Editing Magnifica Humanitas: A Plain-Language Overview (section)

== A shared question ==

Perl Guilds, the Virtuous Programmer Initiative, and ''Magnifica Humanitas'' arise from very different kinds of institutions and possess very different purposes. Nothing here should be understood as claiming ecclesiastical endorsement of Perl Guilds or of any particular programming project.

The point of convergence is more fundamental.

They ask versions of the same human question:

<blockquote>
'''What are our powers for?'''
</blockquote>

Perl gives programmers power.

Open source gives communities power.

Commerce gives businesses power.

Automation gives organizations power.

Artificial intelligence gives developers and institutions extraordinary new power.

Virtue concerns the proper use of that power.

The work of Perl Guilds is therefore not simply to help programmers become more technically capable.

It is to help cultivate craftsmen who can use technical capability wisely; who possess the spiritedness to undertake difficult and worthy work; who leave behind good order rather than chaos; who practice diligence, patience, and humility; who respect the dignity of users and fellow workers; who can earn a just livelihood through genuine service; and who can pass their knowledge to those who come after them.

In that sense, the Virtuous Programmer Initiative is deeply consonant with the central challenge of ''Magnifica Humanitas''.

The goal is not less technology.

The goal is '''technology kept in its proper place'''.

The goal is not less human creativity.

It is human creativity directed toward good ends.

The goal is not to make programmers servants of increasingly powerful machines.

It is to form programmers capable of making powerful machines into good servants of human beings.

And the final measure of our technical work is therefore not simply how much we have built.

It is what kind of people, communities, livelihoods, and human world our building helps to sustain.