I’ve done some research work to help improvise my usage of the word abstraction. I have wildly used the word throughout my 30 year technology career, and was looking to sharpen how I apply the important word. I’ve learned that I came by the slippage in meaning rather ignorantly as part of my computer science indoctrination over the last couple of decades.
Read my previous post to get the full narrative on this, but essentially the word abstraction has evolved over the years as part of the field of computer science. Essentially the change in the wording of the definition hinges on the original definition of abstraction “taking away or removing characteristics from something in order to reduce it to a set of essential characteristics” to “generalizing concrete details, such as attributes, away from the study of objects and systems to focus attention on details of greater importance” as it is used by computer science folks like myself.
From essential to greater importance. The digital transformation is all about the abstraction of everything in our lives. Transferring this power of abstraction to a small chose class of mostly white males to decide what is of greater importance as we move our worlds online. Like most things digital, I needed a way to communicate the entropy being introduced into the word abstraction, and understanding this evolution of the definition from classic to computer science meaning gets at what I was seeing.
I don’t feel like what is happening anymore is true to the original definition of keeping the attributes of ideas, concepts, and objects that are essential. We need to new word to describe it, so I am just going to use csabstraction, appending CS, or computer science to the beginning of the word. I am looking to be more explicit of the intent behind was is happening and acknowledge this work is primarily done by white men who get to decide what is of greater importance.
