John Carmack on X: "I recently went through a translation of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings.

The introduction chronicled the evolution of swordsmanship and martial arts in general from pragmatic battlefield necessities to sports, historical curiosities, and hobbies. It was interesting to hear how in… / XPostLog inSign upPostLog inSign upJohn Carmack on X: "I recently went through a translation of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings.

The introduction chronicled the evolution of swordsmanship and martial arts in general from pragmatic battlefield necessities to sports, historical curiosities, and hobbies. It was interesting to hear how in the post-WW2 occupation when martial arts were banned, Judo was represented as equivalent to western wrestling, and Kendo later to western fencing.

The poignant undercurrent for me is that I can see many programming skills following that path.

There are probably dozens of people reading this that remember hand assembling opcodes to hex and still have some magic numbers burned into their memory, but even the small group of people still programming in assembly today (hey, @FFmpeg !) don’t work at that primitive level now.

AI is making many other programming skills much less critical. We aren’t there yet, but carefully writing code completely by hand is moving from a -jitsu to a -do. Code-do? Codo?

That’s ok! The retro computing scene is delightful, full of people building and exercising old skills for the love of it.

But don’t be the out of touch Kung Fu master, heir to lifetimes of tradition, that gets mauled by an amateur MMA fighter.

Musashi would probably have been pretty enthusiastic about assault rifles."John Carmack@ID_AA_CarmackI recently went through a translation of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings.

The introduction chronicled the evolution of swordsmanship and martial arts in general from pragmatic battlefield necessities to sports, historical curiosities, and hobbies. It was interesting to hear how in the post-WW2 occupation when martial arts were banned, Judo was represented as equivalent to western wrestling, and Kendo later to western fencing.

The poignant undercurrent for me is that I can see many programming skills following that path.

There are probably dozens of people reading this that remember hand assembling opcodes to hex and still have some magic numbers burned into their memory, but even the small group of people still programming in assembly today (hey, @FFmpeg !) don’t work at that primitive level now.

AI is making many other programming skills much less critical. We aren’t there yet, but carefully writing code completely by hand is moving from a -jitsu to a -do. Code-do? Codo?

That’s ok! The retro computing scene is delightful, full of people building and exercising old skills for the love of it.

But don’t be the out of touch Kung Fu master, heir to lifetimes of tradition, that gets mauled by an amateur MMA fighter.

Musashi would probably have been pretty enthusiastic about assault rifles.4:07 PM · Sep 11, 20266.7MViews2844004.2K1.2KLog in or sign up for XSee what’s happening and join the conversationContinue with phoneContinue with AppleContinue with Google or Log in with username or emailRelevant peopleJohn Carmack@ID_AA_CarmackFollowTrending nowTerms·Privacy·Cookies·Accessibility·US TIDA·Ads Info·More© 2026 X Corp.John Carmack@ID_AA_CarmackI recently went through a translation of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings.

The introduction chronicled the evolution of swordsmanship and martial arts in general from pragmatic battlefield necessities to sports, historical curiosities, and hobbies. It was interesting to hear how in the post-WW2 occupation when martial arts were banned, Judo was represented as equivalent to western wrestling, and Kendo later to western fencing.

The poignant undercurrent for me is that I can see many programming skills following that path.

There are probably dozens of people reading this that remember hand assembling opcodes to hex and still have some magic numbers burned into their memory, but even the small group of people still programming in assembly today (hey, @FFmpeg !) don’t work at that primitive level now.

AI is making many other programming skills much less critical. We aren’t there yet, but carefully writing code completely by hand is moving from a -jitsu to a -do. Code-do? Codo?

That’s ok! The retro computing scene is delightful, full of people building and exercising old skills for the love of it.

But don’t be the out of touch Kung Fu master, heir to lifetimes of tradition, that gets mauled by an amateur MMA fighter.

Musashi would probably have been pretty enthusiastic about assault rifles.4:07 PM · Sep 11, 20266.7MViews2844004.2K1.2KO@OliverRCoteSep 11dont define yourself by the tools you use but rather by what you do with themMade with AI21245.9KMull & Muse@Mull_and_MuseSep 11"Musashi would probably have been pretty enthusiastic about assault rifles."

Not once have I ever considered this. What a sentence.22472.7KDanielle Fong 🔆@DanielleFongSep 11a man who innovated by fighting with katana and wakizashi would find room for an assault rifle, certainly. and a phone12401.6K

John Carmack reflected on a translation of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings, noting how the introduction traced the evolution of swordsmanship and martial arts from pragmatic battlefield requirements to contemporary pursuits like sports, historical curiosities, and hobbies. He found the historical progression interesting, particularly how martial arts evolved; for instance, during the post-World War Two occupation when martial arts were banned, Judo was equated to Western wrestling, and Kendo was later associated with Western fencing. Carmack identified a poignant parallel between this historical trajectory and the development of various programming skills.

He observed that many programmers retain memories of primitive skills, such as hand assembling opcodes to hexadecimal notation, yet even those working in assembly today do not operate at that rudimentary level. Furthermore, Carmack suggested that artificial intelligence is diminishing the critical importance of many programming skills. He posited that the act of carefully writing code entirely by hand is transitioning from a japanese concept of jitsu to a do, raising the question of whether this translates into a concept like Code-do or Codo. While acknowledging the value of the retro computing scene for people who enjoy exercising these older skills, he issued a caution against becoming an outdated master merely due to tradition, warning against being overwhelmed by developments analogous to an amateur fighter. Ultimately, he concluded with a provocative thought, suggesting that Musashi would likely have been enthusiastic about the existence of assault rifles.