9. The Critical Engineer notes that written code expands into social and psychological realms, regulating behavior between people and the machines they interact with. By understanding this, the Critical Engineer seeks to reconstruct user-constraints and social action through means of digital excavation.
First of all, throughout the reading, I was not really sure about the definition of the term "Critical Engineer". I felt like it can be interpreted in different ways. This role can include every participant who is working towards the future, building Art-design-tech that deals with human interactions. Or, it can be a jargon describing a specific group of people. But no matter what group this term refers to, it all contributes to the overall manifesto and its emphasis on the social, cultural, and psychological importance for inventions. It first says the Critical Engineer writing codes that touch on social studies and psychology, both relating to research in human behaviors and interactions. This is a common point in many design and artworks theme. However, I found these concepts were rarely connected with coding. Coding is sitting on the other side with logic and rationality. So it is creative and interesting when reading part of the Critical Engineer's job is to use coding with ideas in the social and psychological realms for revising our conventional understanding and behaviors related to user experience and social actions. Nevertheless, when thinking about the production of coding, how is our behaviors being shaped? If we look around, we may find that most things around us today are partly constructed through written code, e.g. social media apps, personal websites, etc. If we look at these finished products, a majority part of human interactions and social life is actually connected or even shaped by code. In this sense, the statement points out the eventual consequence and influence of the critical engineer in the aspect of shaping a way of living and communicating.