The Missing Dimension of Computing: Why Computers Understand Data but Not Value

For nearly seventy years, computer science has gotten remarkably good at one thing: moving data around. Yet for all of that scaffolding, a modern computer still has no idea what value is. To a machine, a transaction is just a number changing in a database. An environmental cost is a column nobody reads. A human life-and-death priority is a variable nobody thought to define. This entry introduces Value Engineering as a new, foundational branch of computer science — the study of how machines can represent, preserve, transform, and reason about value. It closes by introducing Daturrency, a first working theory for turning passive digital money into something that actually understands what it is for.

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Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-07-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21418592
Primary Topic
Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

The Missing Dimension of Computing: Why Computers Understand Data but Not Value

Hassler Juma, Joseph Njoroge
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
article

The Missing Dimension of Computing: Why Computers Understand Data but Not Value

Hassler Juma, Joseph Njoroge
article en

Abstract

For nearly seventy years, computer science has gotten remarkably good at one thing: moving data around. Yet for all of that scaffolding, a modern computer still has no idea what value is. To a machine, a transaction is just a number changing in a database. An environmental cost is a column nobody reads. A human life-and-death priority is a variable nobody thought to define. This entry introduces Value Engineering as a new, foundational branch of computer science — the study of how machines can represent, preserve, transform, and reason about value. It closes by introducing Daturrency, a first working theory for turning passive digital money into something that actually understands what it is for.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
American Sentinel University (US), Sentient Science (United States) (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
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