Lex Fridman has conducted numerous extensive interviews on his widely-followed podcast. Nonetheless, the episode featuring the renowned programmer John Carmack possesses an unrestrained, uncut sensation. Spanning over five hours, Carmack delves into various topics ranging from vector operations to Doom. However, it’s an offhand remark by Fridman that truly justifies the prolonged duration: “I believe that if we inhabit a simulated reality, its code is scripted in JavaScript.”
To elaborate: JavaScript is the driving force behind transforming static web pages into dynamic ones. Without it, the internet would resemble a desolate after-hours arcade—lifeless and dim. Presently, the language finds utility in both front-end and back-end development, powering a myriad of mobile platforms and applications, including Slack and Discord.
d in record time—just 10 days. In 1995, Netscape enlisted programmer Brendan Eich to devise a language for embedding in its browser, Netscape Navigator. Initially dubbed LiveScript, the language underwent a rebranding to JavaScript to capitalize on the buzz surrounding a separate language called Java, which had debuted earlier that year. (Asked to differentiate between Java and JavaScript, a programmer might jest: “Java is to JavaScript what a car is to a carpet.”) Even to this day, few regard JavaScript as a paragon of design, least of all its creator, Eich. “I unleashed JavaScript in 1995,” he quipped, “and have been atoning for it ever since.”
Thus, when Fridman asserts that JavaScript governs the world, what he’s implying is that our reality mirrors the chaotic and incomprehensible nature of its underlying source code. It’s tantamount to lamenting, with a resigned sigh, that considering the sorry state of the world, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must have been penned in Comic Sans.
