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> which tbh isn't fair to the doctors and lawyer who also suffer from the disease Even if that's the case, I think framing it as "Engineer's Disease" is pretty

by tivert 3y ago

> which tbh isn't fair to the doctors and lawyer who also suffer from the disease Even if that's the case, I think framing it as "Engineer's Disease" is pretty critical for HN, which at times can become a literal orgy of it. Also, SV culture amplifies Engineer's Disease into a destructive force only rivaled by its counterpart in finance. Doctors and lawyers who suffer from something similar are far more limited in their effects.

fragmede 3y ago
Doctors and lawyers can become programmers far more easily than programmers can become doctors and lawyers though, so though the SV amplification is real, doctors and lawyers can also wreak havoc outside their discipline.
- tivert 3y ago
  > Doctors and lawyers can become programmers far more easily than programmers can become doctors and lawyers though, so though the SV amplification is real, doctors and lawyers can also wreak havoc outside their discipline. I think that's kind of missing the point. Also, I don't think many doctors are making the switch to engineering. Why would they? There are probably far more engineers becoming doctors than vice versa (though the total numbers in both directions are likely small). The specific problem with Engineer's disease, is that engineers have the job of building things for others, and thus have the opportunity to force their half-baked ideas onto them. SV has amplified that and turned it into a monster, by elevating things like "disruption" into something like a moral imperative. The counterpart in finance and the closely related managerialism rival it because those jobs involve control of others. Doctors though? If they get arrogant about some other field, they usually just end up hurting themselves or a few others (like they learn to sail, get in over their heads, and sink their ship in a storm). They don't have a mechanism to do more damage.

by tivert 3y ago

fragmede 3y ago

Doctors and lawyers can become programmers far more easily than programmers can become doctors and lawyers though, so though the SV amplification is real, doctors and lawyers can also wreak havoc outside their discipline.

tivert 3y ago
> Doctors and lawyers can become programmers far more easily than programmers can become doctors and lawyers though, so though the SV amplification is real, doctors and lawyers can also wreak havoc outside their discipline. I think that's kind of missing the point. Also, I don't think many doctors are making the switch to engineering. Why would they? There are probably far more engineers becoming doctors than vice versa (though the total numbers in both directions are likely small). The specific problem with Engineer's disease, is that engineers have the job of building things for others, and thus have the opportunity to force their half-baked ideas onto them. SV has amplified that and turned it into a monster, by elevating things like "disruption" into something like a moral imperative. The counterpart in finance and the closely related managerialism rival it because those jobs involve control of others. Doctors though? If they get arrogant about some other field, they usually just end up hurting themselves or a few others (like they learn to sail, get in over their heads, and sink their ship in a storm). They don't have a mechanism to do more damage.