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I remember at my school students were forced to choose between arts (AKA humanities) and sciences at 16. The science students were on the whole brighter than th

I remember at my school students were forced to choose between arts (AKA humanities) and sciences at 16. The science students were on the whole brighter than the arts students, through no fault of their own. The arts teachers tried to sweeten the pill by saying things like, "Those scientists don't understand human beings." The implication was that we were insensitive and callous individuals. Comments like this left a mark on me, a science student, and the rest of my life I've been trying to compensate. And I think it's also one of the reasons science writers do what they do.

iorrus 9y ago
Saying things like that is just a sign they were insecure and compensating.
- theoh 9y ago
  Actually, there's a bit of 'fire' here, not just smoke. From the harmless stereotypical CS professor who doesn't grok humans, to Zuckerberg's dangerous obliviousness to the humanistic tradition. The Wikipedia page for the two cultures has an interesting section which maybe doesn't belong there: "In his opening address at the Munich Security Conference in January 2014, the Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves said that the current problems related to security and freedom in cyberspace are the culmination of absence of dialogue between "the two cultures": "Today, bereft of understanding of fundamental issues and writings in the development of liberal democracy, computer geeks devise ever better ways to track people... simply because they can and it's cool. Humanists on the other hand do not understand the underlying technology and are convinced, for example, that tracking meta-data means the government reads their emails."[12]" Of course there are well-rounded, humane people in the hard sciences. But it's not a job requirement.
  - eli_gottlieb 9y ago
    >"Today, bereft of understanding of fundamental issues and writings in the development of liberal democracy, computer geeks devise ever better ways to track people... simply because they can and it's cool." Rubbish. Geeks do it because that's what they can get a job doing.
    - theoh 9y ago
      The quotation doesn't reflect my opinions, but I think you are taking an overly simplistic "people are driven by money" line. It's not unusual to encounter this kind of view expressed on HN, and it's disturbing because it is so reductive. I mean, seriously, you think "geeks" in general have no choice but to build the software that maximizes revenue? Geeks are, if anything, more likely than other people to pursue activities for intellectual satisfaction, to attack difficult problems for fun, etc. The previous time this came up, someone was claiming that every restaurant owner only cared about their bottom line -- and that absolutely no restaurant owners were in it for the love of hospitality (as a social good or something more professional) and self-expression/self-actualization. Honestly.
      - eli_gottlieb 9y ago
        I don't think people are driven only by money, but if inventing cool stuff doesn't make any, you do it in your spare time after you take someone's money to push ads into eyeballs.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
  - erasemus 9y ago
    >Actually, there's a bit of 'fire' here, not just smoke. I think humanities people are better at appearing humane but the paradoxical truth is that if you look at the average English Department you won't find a hive of harmony. You'd be more likely to find that at a place like CERN where thousands of scientists and engineers cooperate beautifully.

iorrus 9y ago

Saying things like that is just a sign they were insecure and compensating.

theoh 9y ago
Actually, there's a bit of 'fire' here, not just smoke. From the harmless stereotypical CS professor who doesn't grok humans, to Zuckerberg's dangerous obliviousness to the humanistic tradition. The Wikipedia page for the two cultures has an interesting section which maybe doesn't belong there: "In his opening address at the Munich Security Conference in January 2014, the Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves said that the current problems related to security and freedom in cyberspace are the culmination of absence of dialogue between "the two cultures": "Today, bereft of understanding of fundamental issues and writings in the development of liberal democracy, computer geeks devise ever better ways to track people... simply because they can and it's cool. Humanists on the other hand do not understand the underlying technology and are convinced, for example, that tracking meta-data means the government reads their emails."[12]" Of course there are well-rounded, humane people in the hard sciences. But it's not a job requirement.
- eli_gottlieb 9y ago
  >"Today, bereft of understanding of fundamental issues and writings in the development of liberal democracy, computer geeks devise ever better ways to track people... simply because they can and it's cool." Rubbish. Geeks do it because that's what they can get a job doing.
  - theoh 9y ago
    The quotation doesn't reflect my opinions, but I think you are taking an overly simplistic "people are driven by money" line. It's not unusual to encounter this kind of view expressed on HN, and it's disturbing because it is so reductive. I mean, seriously, you think "geeks" in general have no choice but to build the software that maximizes revenue? Geeks are, if anything, more likely than other people to pursue activities for intellectual satisfaction, to attack difficult problems for fun, etc. The previous time this came up, someone was claiming that every restaurant owner only cared about their bottom line -- and that absolutely no restaurant owners were in it for the love of hospitality (as a social good or something more professional) and self-expression/self-actualization. Honestly.
    - eli_gottlieb 9y ago
      I don't think people are driven only by money, but if inventing cool stuff doesn't make any, you do it in your spare time after you take someone's money to push ads into eyeballs.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- erasemus 9y ago
  >Actually, there's a bit of 'fire' here, not just smoke. I think humanities people are better at appearing humane but the paradoxical truth is that if you look at the average English Department you won't find a hive of harmony. You'd be more likely to find that at a place like CERN where thousands of scientists and engineers cooperate beautifully.