I agree with you 100% that basing decisions on stereotypes is flawed. But I was of course replying in the context of, not only the poster's reply to the Gartne

I agree with you 100% that basing decisions on stereotypes is flawed. But I was of course replying in the context of, not only the poster's reply to the Gartner reply, but to his original post (http://infovegan.com/2010/07/19/why-developers-should-run-for-congress http://infovegan.com/2010/07/19/why-developers-should-run-fo...) In there he espouses programmers' (and for some reason he thinks web developers are higher up the totem pole than "regular" developers) knack for solving problems, looking for novel solutions, etc. etc., in the context of issues that are increasingly technical (which I think is debatable). I think one particular aspect of programmers, a stereotype if you will, is that they don't like to compromise and are generally quite independent of mind. Perhaps one could argue this would be a Good Thing™. But, if you look at all the disagreement amongst programmers, I don't see why their proposed solutions would be better than they are currently (in the end it is about politics). To your question: "Are scientists really rational?" - see my caveat :-) (PS: I think politicians should focus on creating policy, not try to solve problems that the free market solves better).