An interesting and core debate the author brings up in the reading was the clash and the balance between reductionism and taking a wider view when looking at the things around us. The author, despite bringing up valid points of view from both sides for the readers to make judgments themselves, seemed to be siding with the latter perspective, for he stresses on how reductionism and dissecting everything into its core elements is essentially no use if you are lacking the context behind them. Chewing on this, I found a correlation between the author’s example of reductionists describing the universe down to its “subatomic particles” can be isn’t necessarily the best way of explaining the entire picture as well as how I view my own life. If I had to pick a view that is more similar to my own, I also think having a wider perspective is how I live my life because I always put my emphasis on the “bigger picture” and rely on the general vision that I have for myself rather than focusing on smaller details such as which classes or even major I will choose, what kind of assistantships I will apply for at the moment, etc. Just like what the author points out, without context, or, for me specifically, without meaning or purpose, it doesn’t matter how detailed you are in planning out your actions or steps in life because you are bound to be lost without a general direction to guide you.
Another thought that appealed to me was his mention of how the computer is the first invention that proved that engaging simultaneously in theory and experimentation is possible, because according to the reading, “someone who creates and uses a simulation” is utilizing both theory and experimentation at the same time. This made me realize just how unique and influential the invention of computers is because it is the first invention that allows us to also engage in combining these two elements together. Reflecting on my own experience with coding and computer science so far, I can definitely see how the computer wills us to use both skills at the same time because I might be learning the theoretical idea and methods of how the code will work in class or through videos, but I won’t be able to make it mine or know for sure whether it is actually applicable unless I try it out myself, which is the experimentation part.