5 ms·
What would a doctor or engineer do differently?
by coding123 5y ago
What would a doctor or engineer do differently?
- sitkack 5y agoMake a decision based on emotion and then retroactively use math to justify that decision.
- idiotsecant 5y agoI am so glad that this response is here. HN in general has this disease, but it's pretty prevalent in STEM fields in general- The "I know how to solve a differential equation so that means I am a rational decision maker" disease. It's important to acknowledge that the more education a person has the more likely they are to reverse-engineer a reason to think something that they want to think, especially when it comes to emotionally charged issues like those that politicians encounter every day. Having technical skills does not automagically make you a good leader or policymaker. It just means you have good technical skills. I would go so far as to say there are probably more people with good technical skills that should not be making policy than the opposite.
- sitkack 5y agoI think having technical people on staff is really important. That the elected leader has a STEM background? Not important. Leaders should be general purpose coordinators of groups that solve problems. Understanding the psychology of all the participants is as important as solving the specific issue. In context, a STEM background is someone who has and can actually engineer or science. Writing some code doesn't qualify. Every human on the planet should be able to design an experiment and do basic statistics. I think the bar we have for our fellow human should be much higher than it currently is. The moniker, that person is an "Every (Hu)Man" , should be a badge of honor.
- dodobirdlord 5y agoApprove construction of market rate housing, presumably.