On Objectivity and Subjectivity: Can Computer Science Become a Hard Science?

On Twitter, yesterday, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, stated a comment regarding a bacteria virus: it is the 1 many are not accustomed to, or feel thrilled with which to share space, COVID-19. But it has caused many responses. And I shall share my response, here. President Biden stated the following:

Words have consequences.

It’s called the coronavirus.

Full stop.

— President Biden (@POTUS) March 19, 2021

Remembering its Origins with Fairness

This may seem strange and even cryptic to readers because it is. The coronavirus is not the major problem: people forgo death because of coronavirus like HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). Common knowledge is this virus, SARS-COVID-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2), originated in Wuhan China. But when coronavirus activates and becomes COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019), then it is deadly. On HopkinsMedicine.org, Dr. Stuart Ray stated alarming news. Ray said, “New variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are detected every week” (link). There are ~52 weeks, each year. About COVID-19, I 1st read news QIV 2019, perhaps November 2019. So, today, this is ~72 weeks. With 1 table per variant, using a computer, this means a database would require at least 72 tables. This requires security communication keys (identifiers): it is a substantial amount of work. But organizing everything this way, by a single name coronavirus, and this other way, by restricting further details, including comments for documentation, shall lead to administrative errors because of difficulty in retrieving data. If Computer Science is ever considered beyond technology, it is because rules and policies are defined by hard logic and strict mathematics. Consider an early church Bishop’s message. 

Remember to Divide Work the Right Way

In the early Christian church, the Apostle Paul probably commissioned written doctrine to his brothers. The Apostle Paul (KJV) stated, “For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil” (Romans 16:19). The Apostle Paul was saying this: as a reward for his brothers’ obedience, he desired to give them a blessing, wisdom. In this case, it was a practical division: the good faith, God, and good works are complex (they require a living faith). But evil is simple: for a righteous faith respond simply. The President of the United States, Joe Biden, gave a simple response to widespread condemnation of Wuhan, China, calling it the origin of the coronavirus, the Wuhan virus. But this was oversimplification: in OOP (Object Oriented Programming), the object, the land, is Wuhan, and the virus is SARS-CoV-2. In a well made Java course (an OOP language), you can find lecture material stating it enables ~99% of the Internet. Java enables Enterprise and Web technologies. At 1 of the greatest universities in history, my Alma Mater, the Johns Hopkins University, Enterprise and Web Technologies is my career track. Everyone knows this, but not everyone desires OOP languages. For work sometimes requires different standardizations. And this is a technology focus rather than a scientific need. I believe this: for Computer Science, and society’s advancements, we need a single, standard programming language, like a SQL (Standard Query Language) has common capabilities, but standardizations like Oracle and Microsoft are more technology-focused. Consider the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero. 

For your adversaries, specifically, remember the Supreme Good.

When regarding the supreme good, Cicero countered interpreting division. Cicero stated, 

“For he who so interprets supreme good as to disjoin it from virtue, and    measures it by his own convenience, and not by the standard of right, --he, I say, if he be consistent with himself, and be not sometimes overcome by natural goodness, can cultivate neither friendship, nor justice, nor generosity; nor can he possibly be brave while he esteems pain as the greatest of evils, or temperate while he regards pleasure as the supreme good.” (link)

Cicero was saying a man who interprets the greatest good by which convenience, but no longer virtue and righteousness, is never weakened, can never experience the good works, say, patience might generate. In application, President Joe Biden found his organization standard, calling SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, convenient. But against a worldwide pandemic costing 500+ thousand American lives, we need variant specifications encouraging expansion and technology refinement. Without it, the Mars astronauts, nay, man, shall not survive. Thus, a standard programming language would have basic Objects, Procedures, and Functions, etc., etc., i.e., like Linux has a core, and distros such as Android and Cent OS allow customized configurations for productivity, gaming, etc. To be honest, I might try designing this, myself as a post-Master’s project. But worth noting is this: without ethics, no science is complete.