THE REJECTED TECHNOLOGY

It was an early Sunday morning, and Joe had just finished taking his shower and preparing to head to the Gym as usual. Joe turned 17, and he had just finished high school. His parents are impoverished; they could not afford to send him to the University. On the other hand, I just finished my bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering, and I’ve been searching for a job for over seven months with no success. I have sent out hundreds of applications to IT companies, and I couldn’t get a single response from any. My dream has always been to work in an IT company as a software developer. Still, months after months, I began to lose hope as I was not getting any positive signs to achieving my dream, so I decided to start a small business which consists of buying and selling mobile phones, computers, and computer accessories such as desktops, laptops, headphones, printers, microphones and so on. I also offer consultation services to my customers because sometimes people seek advice on technical issues, both hardware and software. One evening, while I was offering a consultation service to one of my customers, a young boy walked into my shop, “Hello… Hello, anyone here?” I was mute for a while; again, he said, “Hello, is anyone here?” Now I heard him clearly and louder, and I answered him, “Yes, I’m coming. Please give me a moment,” so I requested a minute break from my customer with whom I was having a session, he agreed, and I proceeded to attend to the young boy. “Hi, welcome, what do you want to buy, please?” He responded, “I am here to book for a consultation with you, sir” I replied, “Oh! Really? All right then, please have your seat and kindly give me some minutes, by the way, what’s your name?” he replied, “I am Joe, how about you sir?” “I am Khan, and it’s my pleasure to meet you, Joe.” I immediately went back inside to meet with the other client to round up my session with him, and after about 20 minutes, I concluded the session with the client, and he left. Khan: Hey Joe, please come in. Joe walked into my office with a big smiled and sat down. Khan: Welcome once again, you seem to be very excited, anything? Joe: No, sir, I am only excited for this opportunity. Khan: Opportunity? I asked out of curiosity. Joe: Yes, of course, an opportunity to be here with you sir, finally, with your help, I could achieve my dream. Khan: What dream, if I may ask? Joe: Hmm, don’t worry about that for now, but one thing I want you to know is that I am about to change the way the world runs. I want to control the world. Khan: Control the world? How? I became even more confused at that point. Joe: Don’t worry so much about that for now, sir. Khan: How old are you, Joe? Joe: I’m 17 Khan: 17? “Yes,” he replied Things became more complicated and confusing; I wasn’t surprised that a 17-year-old boy could come for a consultation. Instead, I was more concerned about how a 17-year-old boy could control the world. We were both mute for about 30 seconds staring at each other. After a while, I asked him, “So how may I be of help to you now” he smiled and responded, “Teach me how to code; I heard that to give the computer a command, I need to be able to use any language that a computer can understand” I responded “Well, yeah, that’s right, but you’re forgetting something” “What’s that?” he asked, I replied “You haven’t paid for this consultation, but since you’re a very young boy and you seem brilliant and intelligent, for that reason I will give you a free consultation today” Joe screamed very happily “Wow! Wow! Are you serious? Thank you so much, sir; I appreciate it.” Khan: Now, let’s continue, you said you want to learn how to code, and you added that computer language is used to give the computer a command. Joe: Yes, that’s right Khan: Okay, first, let me answer your question; yes, you’re right; for you to give the computer command, you need to make use of a computer language which is otherwise known as a programming language. Joe: Interesting, so you mean to say that with the help of a programming language, I can be able to talk to a computer? Like giving it a command and the computer will do exactly as I instructed? Khan: Yes, in fact, you can not only give it an instruction for an immediate task alone, but you can also instruct the computer to perform a task in the future. Joe gave me a massive smile with so much joy. He couldn’t hide his happiness; I began to reflect on his initial statement, “…I want to control the world”. I was getting more concerned about how Joe intended to control the world because from my understanding about controlling something, it means dictating, so does this mean that a 17-year-old boy wants to dictate to the world? I was lost on a deep thought for a while. Joe stood up and tapped me on the shoulder: Joe: Hello sir, is everything all right? Khan: Oh! Yes, sorry, I was thinking of something; please sit down so we can continue. We continued our conversation for about 30 minutes, and all the questions Joe asked were very technical and very intelligent until it got to the point that Joe was exhausted; I could see in his eyes that he was tired, but that was the point I was enjoying the session and needed more time with Joe. As a kid that he was, I couldn’t keep him longer, so I advised him to go back home to rest and come back some other time. He heeded my advice, returned to his home where he lived with his poor parents, and promised me that he’d be back another time.