I dunno if I would replace politicians with programmers per se... I'd be afraid that they would be all too eager to replace congress with a monte-carlo simulati

I dunno if I would replace politicians with programmers per se... I'd be afraid that they would be all too eager to replace congress with a monte-carlo simulation, replace themselves with shell-scripts and auto-responders, and introduce the use of 20-second slide-shows at press conferences. But of course being a programmer myself, I find the stereotype humorous at best. Although I will admit that there is a "tribe" mentality that does perpetuate the stereotype even amongst programmers. Most programmers I've met have some sort of eccentricity about them. Those who don't have a quirk or two are often regarded as outsiders or met with suspicion. It's kind of like porn... you know it when you see it. Awful I know, and I totally agree with your post. But good luck. Humans love simple classifications. It makes the big, bad world easier to deal with.