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Very well said. At the risk of taking away from your original point, going into academia (especially a non-engineering field) can give you a very different pers

Very well said. At the risk of taking away from your original point, going into academia (especially a non-engineering field) can give you a very different perspective and release you from the tech mindset. As an example, the CEO of Palantir, Alex Karp, has a PhD in German social philosophy. How the hell did he end up leading a billion-dollar tech company? Basically he was really smart, and his PhD gave him the framework to think about privacy and civil liberties concerns, something the company desperately needed. The humanities often give us the scaffolding we need to answer really hard social problems which are neglected by the tech community, but are extremely important.

fyi80 14y ago
Uh, thanks for the hagiography on Karp. German social philosophy teaches you how to think about privacy concerns in an espionage organization? He's a smart, good-looking guy who has a lot of powerful friends in multiple locations. His knowledge of German philosophy isn't really relevant. http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6717 http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6717 Prior to Palantir, Alex established the Caedmon Group in 2002. Based in New York and London, the Caedmon Group offers clients access to high-quality investment opportunities in the areas of hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, and intellectual property in the United States and Europe. Alex earned his law degree at Stanford University and received his Ph.D. in neoclassical social theory at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. A U.S. citizen, Alex is bilingual in English and German and fluent in French.
droithomme 14y ago
"the CEO of Palantir, Alex Karp, has a PhD in German social philosophy" To be fair we should note that Palantir is a CIA operation whose job is to help the US military destroy indigenous peoples world wide in prep for western corporations to come in and exploit local resources. Pretty much everybody at Palantir (such as Mr. Miller) reads HN regularly though since they post here all the time to promote and justify their company's fine work in suppressing people. The German social philosophy angle fits right in there. Love the work you guys do attacking journalists and threatening their families. Real classy. http://www.salon.com/2011/02/15/palantir/ http://www.salon.com/2011/02/15/palantir/

fyi80 14y ago

Uh, thanks for the hagiography on Karp. German social philosophy teaches you how to think about privacy concerns in an espionage organization? He's a smart, good-looking guy who has a lot of powerful friends in multiple locations. His knowledge of German philosophy isn't really relevant. http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6717 http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6717 Prior to Palantir, Alex established the Caedmon Group in 2002. Based in New York and London, the Caedmon Group offers clients access to high-quality investment opportunities in the areas of hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, and intellectual property in the United States and Europe. Alex earned his law degree at Stanford University and received his Ph.D. in neoclassical social theory at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. A U.S. citizen, Alex is bilingual in English and German and fluent in French.

droithomme 14y ago

"the CEO of Palantir, Alex Karp, has a PhD in German social philosophy" To be fair we should note that Palantir is a CIA operation whose job is to help the US military destroy indigenous peoples world wide in prep for western corporations to come in and exploit local resources. Pretty much everybody at Palantir (such as Mr. Miller) reads HN regularly though since they post here all the time to promote and justify their company's fine work in suppressing people. The German social philosophy angle fits right in there. Love the work you guys do attacking journalists and threatening their families. Real classy. http://www.salon.com/2011/02/15/palantir/ http://www.salon.com/2011/02/15/palantir/