Taiwan has done something revolutionary – it has appointed a digital minister who is a distinguished technologist.
This goes against all the norms for appointing digital ministers. Doesn’t Taiwan realise that you need a PPE graduate to head up a nation’s technology development?
Well Taiwan is extremely fortunate to have Audrey Tang (pictured) in its cabinet. Tang, a software programmer with an IQ of 180, has been called one of the “ten greats of Taiwanese computing personalities”.
She calls herself a “conservative anarchist.”
“So I am at once digital minister, that’s my day job. But I’m also moonlighting as a civic hacker,” says Tang, “I see myself as a channel, as a bridge, as a Lagrangian point between civic movements on one side and government on the other.”
Tang initiated and led the Pugs project, to implement the Perl 6 language and started over 100 Perl projects between June 2001 and July 2006, including the Perl Archive Toolkit (PAR), a cross-platform packaging and deployment tool for Perl 5.
She has worked in Silicon Valley startups.
“My existence is not to become a minister for a certain group, nor to broadcast government propaganda,” says Tang, “instead, it is to become a channel to allow greater combinations of intelligence and strength to come together.”
Dominic Cummings should love this lady.
Currently Tang is working on the development of free software to show that the new Taiwanese sharing economy, is in fact a working system.
When she’s completed that, maybe Boris could ask the Taiwan government if he can borrow Tang to deliver a track and trace programme for us.
Source: electronicsweekly
