Ye Cannae Change the Laws of Physics • Kevlin Henney • GOTO 2025

This presentation was recorded at GOTO Copenhagen 2025. #GOTOcon #GOTOcph https://gotocph.com Kevlin Henney - Speaker, Writer, Author and Trainer @KevlinHenney RESOURCES https://bsky.app/profile/kevlin.bsky.social https://about.me/kevlin https://twitter.com/KevlinHenney https://linkedin.com/in/kevlin https://instagram.com/kevlin.henney https://kevlinhenney.medium.com Links https://physicsworld.com/a/great-gaffe-in-the-sky-the-erroneous-physics-behind-the-dark-side-of-the-moon https://x.com/sethrosen/status/1428692052968185863 https://devm.io/programming/software-development-roadmap https://x.com/martinfowler/status/1578154212974022657 https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/time-clocks.pdf https://x.com/iamdevloper/status/808344541669498881 https://97-things-every-x-should-know.gitbooks.io/97-things-every-programmer-should-know/content/en/thing_84 https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0009013 https://x.com/cdmo/status/1188806227079389184 https://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~gilbert/pubs/BrewersConjecture-SigAct.pdf https://x.com/KevlinHenney/status/1351956942877552646 ABSTRACT Software is executable fiction. Software development is about constructing narratives, drawing from a broad palette of paradigms and technologies, married to our understanding of the needs and wants for a system. Abstraction allows us to simplify and reify the complexity of the world into a formal description that we continually update. Abstraction allows us to ignore things about the world and about computer systems that are irrelevant or inconvenient. But there are limits to the enchantment of code and our ability to maintain illusions. When the rubber hits the road and the packet hits the network we find universal limits are there to keep it real. Nothing can be instantaneous or infinite. Not all computations can be reversed. Not everything is computable. Not everything can be known. Every computation costs time and energy. Accompanied by a bunch of SF and retro pop culture references (not just Star Trek — we'll be crossing the streams), let's explore the metaphors and realities of the physical world and how they play out in our software systems. [...] TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 02:48 Physics 04:40 FizzBuzz 13:13 Work 17:14 Roadmap 20:40 Business value 26:17 Speed of light 34:49 We need to think of time as a resource 44:11 Outro Download slides and read the full abstract here: https://gotocph.com/2025/sessions/3775 RECOMMENDED BOOKS Kevlin Henney & Trisha Gee • 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know • https://amzn.to/3kiTwJJ Kevlin Henney • 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know • https://amzn.to/2Yahf9U Henney & Monson-Haefel • 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know • https://amzn.to/3pZuHsQ Henney, Buschmann & Schmidt • Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 5 • https://amzn.to/3GAPzN7 Douglas Adams • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy • https://amzn.to/4tBA3HY https://bsky.app/profile/gotocon.com https://twitter.com/GOTOcon https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto- https://www.instagram.com/goto_con https://www.facebook.com/GOTOConferences #Futurology #SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareDevelopment #Programming #FutureOfCoding #LawsOfPhysics #Physics #KevlinHenney #GOTO CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. https://www.youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1