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True Names by Vernor Vinge explores a cyberpunk future where computer coding is abstracted to a point where what matters most is your ability to solve problems and understand the purpose of different tools.  Even though computers are a relatively new invention, the abstraction Vernor Vinge describes in his book is already taking place.  We can write programs to run on a computer without understanding the underlying machine language.  We can use a word processor to type an essay without understanding the program language used to create the word processor.

We discuss the plot of True Names as well as some of the incredible insights provided by a book written in 1981 which hold true to this day.