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I read multiple times during the invasion of Iraq that the opposite was true, that engineers greatly were over-represented in terrorist cells - https://www.nyti

by hobs 4y ago

I read multiple times during the invasion of Iraq that the opposite was true, that engineers greatly were over-represented in terrorist cells - https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12FOB-IdeaLab-t.html https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12FOB-IdeaLab-t....

Firmwarrior 4y ago
Man, that's an interesting read > For their recent study, the two men collected records on 404 men who belonged to violent Islamist groups active over the past few decades (some in jail, some not). Had those groups reflected the working-age populations of their countries, engineers would have made up about 3.5 percent of the membership. Instead, nearly 20 percent of the militants had engineering degrees. When Gambetta and Hertog looked at only the militants whose education was known for certain to have gone beyond high school, close to half (44 percent) had trained in engineering https://web.archive.org/web/20220106004629/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12FOB-IdeaLab-t.html https://web.archive.org/web/20220106004629/https://www.nytim...
ksidudwbw 4y ago
If a foreign country invades you it pisses allot more than radicalists off
MSFT_Edging 4y ago
I mean consider how many engineers in the US work for either the government or a contractor for the government. Folks who studied Computer Engineering or electrical engineering, especially things like RF, control systems, high speed embedded systems, etc work mostly in the government space, as the private space has a small portion hardware/embedded and a large portion of web technology. Many of those engineers create weapons. Deadly missiles, jets, drones, robots, and other tools to maintain military superiority. And many of those completely ignore the implications of their career.
deleted 4y ago
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hcrean 4y ago
Engineers are people who are driven to find and implement solutions. Sadly we don't always agree with the correctness of the chosen solutions.
HillRat 4y ago
There seem to be two concurrent drivers there -- first, that Mideast terrorism tended to attract young men who lacked economic and social opportunities despite being credentialed, and, second, that engineering disciplines are overrepresented amongst persons holding rigid and authoritarian beliefs (a replicated finding, but it should be stressed that this does not indicate that most engineers are authoritarians!). See, e.g., Gambetta and Hertog, "Engineers of Jihad" (2018: Princeton University Press).

by hobs 4y ago

Firmwarrior 4y ago

Man, that's an interesting read > For their recent study, the two men collected records on 404 men who belonged to violent Islamist groups active over the past few decades (some in jail, some not). Had those groups reflected the working-age populations of their countries, engineers would have made up about 3.5 percent of the membership. Instead, nearly 20 percent of the militants had engineering degrees. When Gambetta and Hertog looked at only the militants whose education was known for certain to have gone beyond high school, close to half (44 percent) had trained in engineering https://web.archive.org/web/20220106004629/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12FOB-IdeaLab-t.html https://web.archive.org/web/20220106004629/https://www.nytim...

ksidudwbw 4y ago

If a foreign country invades you it pisses allot more than radicalists off

MSFT_Edging 4y ago

I mean consider how many engineers in the US work for either the government or a contractor for the government. Folks who studied Computer Engineering or electrical engineering, especially things like RF, control systems, high speed embedded systems, etc work mostly in the government space, as the private space has a small portion hardware/embedded and a large portion of web technology. Many of those engineers create weapons. Deadly missiles, jets, drones, robots, and other tools to maintain military superiority. And many of those completely ignore the implications of their career.

deleted 4y ago

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hcrean 4y ago

Engineers are people who are driven to find and implement solutions. Sadly we don't always agree with the correctness of the chosen solutions.

HillRat 4y ago

There seem to be two concurrent drivers there -- first, that Mideast terrorism tended to attract young men who lacked economic and social opportunities despite being credentialed, and, second, that engineering disciplines are overrepresented amongst persons holding rigid and authoritarian beliefs (a replicated finding, but it should be stressed that this does not indicate that most engineers are authoritarians!). See, e.g., Gambetta and Hertog, "Engineers of Jihad" (2018: Princeton University Press).