If you don’t feel like you ‘get’ reductionism on a gut level, the course that nailed that down for me was called ‘Computation Structures’ - name may vary on your end, but it’s a class about how transistors and logic gates are built up through several layers of abstraction until you have a recognizably programmable computer.
As a side note, if you’re willing to adopt a more pragmatic attitude towards what constitutes a ‘rational’ college class, may I suggest searching for information on which majors are highest-paid? :)
There is a great (free) online course called ‘NAND to Tetris’, which is built on this exact premisse. Can’t recommend it enough: https://www.nand2tetris.org/
Computers are an example of reductionism (and , usually, determinism) par excellence, but they don’t prove either to be true universally. You also need to notice that it takes very precise engineering to achieve multiple 9s reliability, or a neat, reductionistic separation between layers. They are not handed to you on a plate by the laws of physics.
If you don’t feel like you ‘get’ reductionism on a gut level, the course that nailed that down for me was called ‘Computation Structures’ - name may vary on your end, but it’s a class about how transistors and logic gates are built up through several layers of abstraction until you have a recognizably programmable computer.
As a side note, if you’re willing to adopt a more pragmatic attitude towards what constitutes a ‘rational’ college class, may I suggest searching for information on which majors are highest-paid? :)
There is a great (free) online course called ‘NAND to Tetris’, which is built on this exact premisse. Can’t recommend it enough: https://www.nand2tetris.org/
Not sure if this is related or just a similar idea: https://nandgame.com/
That class and then an internship at a semiconductor factory thoroughly dispelled any lingering mysticism around computers.
Computers are an example of reductionism (and , usually, determinism) par excellence, but they don’t prove either to be true universally. You also need to notice that it takes very precise engineering to achieve multiple 9s reliability, or a neat, reductionistic separation between layers. They are not handed to you on a plate by the laws of physics.