This article was automatically translated from the original Turkish version.
Peace be upon you, I am Paye.
“The Reflection Diary of a Computer Engineer” may sound a bit strange. Usually, when we think of an engineer, we imagine someone occupied with more rational, mathematical, and abstract matters. To some extent, this is a valid prejudice. When I look around me or observe myself, it is not difficult to see that this profession indeed pushes its practitioners toward stricter, more logical thinking. Perhaps it is due to the intensity of the coursework, or perhaps it is a matter of innate disposition...
Yet amid all of this, sometimes I find myself stopping involuntarily and whispering, “Wow.” We talk about artificial intelligence, we write about it, we draw it, we code it. But beyond all of this, I cherish that moment of pause. Because it is at that moment that questions begin: How did humanity reach this point? How did it arrive here with the abilities it was given? Why did science progress, and how did it progress?
At that moment, I say “Wow” again. Because humanity must never forget how to be amazed. It must be amazed often. It must not set wonder aside. Is a human still human if they cease to be amazed?
We must be amazed by ourselves. We must be amazed by the universe. We must sit and look and say, “Wow.” Because as we normalize everything, we grow blind. Yet wonder reminds us of our humanity. Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of being an engineer is the ability to rediscover this order—in lines of code, in circuit traces, or in algorithms.
To remember wonder... This is something humanity must make its own creed.