The year is 2048. Migration to IP-V6 has just been completed. Every object in the world, includingyour coffee mug and the chair you’re sitting on, comprisesa manycore RISC-V cluster, running linux, with its own unique IP address. Haskell, because ofits mathematically provablesuperiority, has come to supplant every other programming language. Writing code in any language other than Haskell is now a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 64 days of bandwidth throttling and a fine of up to 0.125BTC.
Wouldn’t things be much simpler if every computer system was built on the platform, ran the same operating system, and every program was written in the same programming language?I think that in many ways, thisisthe wet dream of many programmers. No more dealing with cross-language boundaries, portability issues, and multiple incompatible implementations of subpar standards. Things could be much simpler and more efficient than they are now.
The biggest problem, however, is thatin a world where every computer system runs the same software, the same version of the same operating system, on the same hardware,every computer systemhas exactly the same bugs and security weaknesses. Given that some security flaw exists, asingle computer virus could potentially contaminate every computer system in the world in a very short amount of time. In today’s world, this Hollywood-like doomsday scenario seems extremely implausible. The real world is too messy, ortoodiverse, for it to be practical to build a single virus or worm that could infect every system.
In a lot of ways, the chaos of the technological world resembles that of nature. Like animal species competing for survival, various technologies and standards compete for funding and mindshare. In nature, species specialize to exploit new environments. Diversity, in the technological world,exists in part because specialization makes systems more efficient, whichallows the exploitation of new market niches. In nature, genetic diversity, or biodiversity,makes it near-impossible for a single virus to wipe out the entirety of life on earth.
Today’s technological world is definitely messy, but we can take comfort in the fact that competitionreally does foster innovation. The technological diversity that exists right now is a sign that we live in a thriving ecosystem, as opposed to one that is stagnant. Withself-driving cars and a variety of home automation devices on the horizon, we can also take comfort in the idea that technodiversity may actually be keeping us safe.