As AI writes more code, language simplicity becomes more critical, not less. Humans must be able to verify the AI's output, and languages with complex, hidden mechanisms make this harder, as an AI might use an obscure feature without considering human readability.

When Leslie Lamport suggested mathematicians adopt a hierarchical structure for proofs, the reaction was not academic debate but pure anger. He speculates the hostility stemmed from a fear that such rigor would expose unstated assumptions and force them to write proofs detailed enough for a computer to verify, revealing flaws in their thinking.

Many software development conventions, like 'clean code' rules, are unproven beliefs, not empirical facts. AI interacts with code differently, so engineers must have the humility to question these foundational principles, as what's 'good code' for an LLM may differ from what's good for a human.

Lamport emphasizes the critical distinction between an algorithm and code. An algorithm is the abstract, high-level solution, while code is just one implementation. He argues that engineers often mistakenly jump directly to code, conflating core synchronization problems with irrelevant implementation details, which leads to flawed systems.

To ensure his critical work on fault tolerance was widely understood, Lamport created the "Byzantine Generals" narrative. He learned from Dijkstra's "Dining Philosophers" that a memorable story is key to an idea's popularity and adoption, even if the underlying problem is complex and highly technical.

The famous quote wasn't a license to ignore performance. It was a corrective for 1970s programmers who over-indexed on low-level tricks, neglecting the growing need for maintainability and structured design during the era's "software crisis."

Bjarne Stroustrup advises against being "too clever." Manual optimizations from the 1990s are often "pessimizations" today because they constrain modern compilers, preventing them from applying more sophisticated optimizations tailored to new CPU architectures, caches, and memory access patterns.

Contrary to popular belief, peer review is not a timeless scientific principle. It was introduced in the mid-1970s, originating from medical billing disputes, and was later adopted to give administrators control over scientific funding and narratives, effectively serving as a tool for enforcing consensus.

Computer science history is filled with human drama. Edsger Dijkstra, for example, wrote his seminal "Notes on Structured Programming" during a period of deep professional depression, highlighting that personal struggles often fuel foundational technical work.