Sarah MeiVerified account

The earlier photo was pretty, but unremarkable. The later one, though, showed clear, long scars, like claw marks through the forest, where loggers had clear-cut. So big that they were visible from space.

This scientist had used these two photos - official US government photos, so difficult to dismiss as fakes - to help convince some of the ministers in the government that clear-cutting was actually happening - despite the logging industry’s assurances to the contrary.

That was what hooked me on software - this idea that surfacing information to a wider audience could change the world. I switched majors to computer science and haven’t looked back.

There’s that phrase - “change the world.” That’s how I thought about it at the time.

You might reasonably ask, what’s the real difference between “changing the world” and “making the world better”? Isn’t this just arguing syntax? They can mean the same thing. And yes - they CAN. But they don’t, always.

Ever read one of those new-agey self help books that’s all like, “tell the universe what you want & THE UNIVERSE will manifest it for you”? I read a few at various points in my life & always sorta rolled my eyes at the idea that anything in the universe was looking out for me.

But it turns out that the new agers were largely correct. One significant proponent of manifesting what you want was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who put it this way: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”