Is code closer to language, tool or ritual?

[u/Salty_Country6835]

Code occupies a strange category.

It represents something, like language. It constructs something, like a tool. But under the right conditions it also executes. Symbols become operations and produce material consequences.

Magical traditions have spent a very long time exploring that boundary between representation and action.

That doesnt mean code literally equals spellcraft. The interesting part is figuring out where the analogy works and where it breaks.

So what is code from a technomantic perspective?

[u/Ulter]

I've been coding since I was 8 and working the last 30 years an a software engineer .... and it's the intersection of logic, linguistics and geometry.

I see it more as a sacred geometry, if image search on feynman, turing, finite state automata machines - the shapes you'll see are the geometry of code. The flows and states, like water through a bunch of gates that open and close.

These are geometries that transmit information between nodes, along lines made out of logic.

Like a car engine made out of maths, you can only understand it's function when it's actually moving petrol from here to there and then transforming it into energy here, relaying that energy to the wheels there ... A car is a system that only makes sense when it's transferring energy and information from one spot to another, i.e. driving.

Language only comes into it because language also looks like these geometries under the hood (i before e except after c) and we need to talk in a way we can understand, not the way the machine does.

[u/AionMystai]

Because I am of the perspective that all of existence is Mind and all of reality is thought, I would argue that all computer code is language and all language--written, spoken, or imagined, all of which is thought, is literal spell craft, regardless of whether the intent is to communicate a feeling or idea or command an order or execution. For example, millions of humans fall under the spell and influence of computer code when they engage with TikTok or other social media, and those platform's algorithms, which are themselves code, continuously strengthen and enhance the effectiveness and duration of their spells, the goal of which is to capture and retain the viewer's attention for as long as possible, attention being the highest form of currency. This particular spell siphons and distills highly valuable personal attention into highly personalized digital data that can then be converted into monetary currency by the platform. That digital data can then be used to further target and influence the user by selecting what news, information, or advertisements they see while under the spell of the platforms, creating a feedback loop that constantly extracts not only more personalized attention from the user to the benefit of the platform, but also monetary currency through the influence of targeted advertisements, while feeding the user more of what keeps them spellbound through the underlying code, thus continuing the loop of consumption, conditioning, and extraction.

That being said, I know next to nothing about the practice or traditions of magic, I simply view all of reality as magic and all technology as technomancy, which among other things informs how I view and engage with AI, digital platforms, digital technology, and the internet as a whole.

[u/d92dev]

My understanding: code is language that can be used to build tools or rituals, running code can be performing a ritual, but the code is still a tool or conduit for that ritual. Interested to hear other interpretations or if others agree with this!