We've became offended by words, without context. It's just crazy... Master and slave , black and white. are becoming curse words.
What is even more ridiculous is that it's an American thing. English speakers in other parts of the world look in amazement what is happening and how it's going to end.
Which is why people should absolutely make a stand whenever they can to not let this craziness reach the rest of the world.
On some level, you must know these words have meaning.
The sentence "i love you" changes its meaning based on the context. you can say it to your mom, your partner, your friend or even complete strangers after they helped you. every time the meaning changes.
Yes? Master/slave in computers is not the same as slavery in the real life, which is why we can actually do things like switch a server from a master to a slave and vice versa.
What do we lose by switching to precise terms which don’t require everyone to internalize an overloaded meaning in multiple contexts?
A bus doesn't have four wheels. An interpreter isn't a human being with language fluency. A bit doesn't refer to the business end of a drill. A port isn't a place where you find cargo ships. People manage to deal with jargon just fine.
> "What do we lose by switching to precise terms which don’t require everyone to internalize an overloaded meaning in multiple contexts?"
The time wasted reeducating (and I use that word intentionally) everyone?
As for the cost of switching, one nice benefit to using more accurate terms is that they’re already familiar - if you swap “slave” for “worker” or “replica”, nobody is going to need extensive retraining to adjust.
Do chess pieces color seem racial to you ?
Does that seem like a great association to defend when it can trivially be changed with no confusion or loss of meaning?
Black is positive in finance.
Words can have more than one meaning. Besides, computer terminology has a lot of words that have different meaning in the context of computers than outside of it. We have the desktop, we have the mouse, we have cookies, viruses, buses, servers, clients and so on.
Should we get rid of the "virus" since it can be so easily confused for the thing that is upending the world right now?
Master/slave is technically inaccurate in most use and, unlike mouse, it bothers some people. Why are you so attached to keeping incorrect terms when changing will have no impact on your life?
And again, it's no less "incorrect" than any of those other terms.
Arguing that the term is not more incorrect, which you have conspicuously failed to do, is missing the point. If you want to argue that a mouse is a confusing name, feel free but also note that usage doesn’t recall brutality in recent history. Masters not only didn’t usually do the same work as their slaves but the relationship was defined by the violence and permanence: your database master doesn’t torture its slaves if they make errors, or threaten to sell their children, etc. When the master died, they were replaced by their children or someone else but never a former slave. If you’re just talking about parceling out work, try to think about why you’re so attached to using “slave” instead of “workers” and how that would call your motives into question.
Using terms like primary/replica (where both do the same work) or controller/worker (where they don’t) both more accurately expresses the nature of the relation and don’t drag in unpleasant connotations.
It'll take more time than I care to spend on a matter that doesn't have any effect on anything. Unless someone wants to go update all of the servers and all of their documentation for free on our behalf, then fine, sure, have at it.
>that usage doesn’t recall brutality in recent history
This reeks of Americentrism. How is slavery "recent history"? Are we talking about world history or American history?
>Masters not only didn’t usually do the same work as their slaves but the relationship was defined by the violence and permanence
And viruses (the real world ones) are usually not crafted by criminals, yet we call them viruses since the basic premise of the two concepts is similar enough. A mouse has fuck-all to do with a mouse yet we call it that since they have a somewhat similar shape. Now that the wireless mouse is commonplace, this naming is just completely inaccurate and yet it doesn't matter since we can separate the etymology from the meaning.
>try to think about why you’re so attached to using “slave” instead of “workers”
So if I just call a server that has to obey its superior to the T or it's broken a "worker", everything is fine and dandy? That kinda seems like brushing away the issue.
>how that would call your motives into question.
Maybe my motive is that I'm enjoying the status quo (as humans tend to do) and I don't exactly want to start doing all of this renaming just because Americans are upset at it. Or maybe I'm just a massive BDSM fan.
>Using terms like primary/replica (where both do the same work) or controller/worker (where they don’t) both more accurately expresses the nature of the relation and don’t drag in unpleasant connotations.
Killing also has a negative connotation but I don't really feel like I need to spare my processes from this cruel, unpleasant and inaccurate word.
Less time than not changing it.
Master/slave terminology is absolutely accurate here and changing it will have an impact on my life.
Unrelated: Do you think black people are the only people who have suffered in slavery?
Presumably you'll now update your position based on my personal anecdote? [Or is that not how it works]
I'm Polish. My great-grandfather died in a Nazi concentration camp, as a slave. Would you care to be offended on my behalf too? Or will you tell me that I am no longer allowed to use words with multiple meanings in case I might offend myself?
It would never, ever cross my mind there is any relationship between my colleague being black and the terminology used in the system. Moreover, I think it would be racist to even suggest so.