Posted on 10/24/2008 2:18:30 PM PDT by Still Thinking
I'm reading (for the second time) Scott Rosenberg's Dreaming in Code, the saga of part of the development of Chandler, an open source cross platform PIM. In it, he refers several times to the general liberal orientation of the programmers there (Al Gore even puts in an appearance), and I've noticed this in other software teams and in other types of engineering as well. It's not monolithic, there are certainly numerous conservatives, but it's always been somewhat of a paradox to me. I always felt that you had to be fairly intelligent to be a good tech, because technical issues are what they are and respond only to fact based approaches, and that you pretty much had to have a room temp IQ or less to be a liberal, so I would have expected those professions to be almost exclusively dominated by conservatives. So what gives? Anyone thought about this before?
Oh absolutely. However, I know I want the nurse who changes the bandages to be of a different character.
I think Hayden Panty-tear is a total flake (and Hayden is a dude’s name). 10 more years and she’s gonna weigh a deuce and be botoxed to the hilt.
it’s young people under 40 in general
MS-employed software types have a VERY strong tendency to be liberal -- take it from one who lives near MS central. There are also some strong conservatives in their midst.
Agree that Linux/Unix folks tend to be liberal, or even further out in the left-field bleachers, but again you have some pretty solid conservatives in the mix.
She is 5’1”, she wouldn’t be able to walk at 200 pounds. The botox thing is possible, but no excuse for weight gain with that kind of money.
Could be worse. She could end up like Lindsay Lohan. (snicker)
The . . . more difficult option is to educate people with this worldview that new ideas introduced throughout history have had the ability to destroy cultures, stall scientific advancement, and many times are not even new.
I was sitting through an insufferable liberal Ben & Jerry spiel at a liberal college my daughter was considering, and found myself thinking about a story I had read in the Reader's Digest. The writer said that he had gotten the government to do a study on the battle damage of planes returning from combat against the Nazis during WWII. As the writer was documenting the damage to a particular plane, an enlisted man asked the writer what he was going to do with his findings. He replied that he expected to recommend that armor be installed where he found that airplanes had been hit the most.The enlisted man replied, "Son, airplanes get hit everywhere - and you're only looking at the planes that got back. You find out where the planes you're looking at got hit - then you put your armor everywhere else!
And the reason that thought went through my mind when hearing the liberal gospel being preached is that I couldn't help thinking that the fancy liberal ideas probably were not new - but if they had been tried before, they would have failed so miserably that the society that tried to operate that way would have disappeared without a trace. Just like a warplane whose cockpit had been riddled with bullets . . .
Better fat than firecrotch.
Yep, Computer Engineering. I describe myself as a programmer who doesn't run for the exit when someone mentions "device registers"
LOL!
We were involved almost exclusively with solid business and science problems. Today's programmers live in a world of make-believe games and theoretical constructs. Reality is an abstract concept to them.
. . . as it is to liberals everywhere.
Hey, no offense taken and none meant.
One interesting thing here is the robustness of the founding American philosophy. When you look at what is unique about the USA in its founding, there are several notes of interest.
First, the famous "Protestant work ethic" which is still alive and well, and helps our society admire hard work, and make laws to preserve the rewards of hard work. The only place where property rights are fought against is where it appears that the rewards are high for work that is easy or done poorly.
Second, the strong desire for a literate populace is still foundational as it was in the founding when Biblical literacy was seen as essential to salvation of the soul. The reasons have changed and become more wishy-washy, but we still want a literate society.
Third, there is a respect for the rule of law set down from the founding of our country. I heard that even if illegal immigrants from Mexico didn't receive a dime of welfare and hospitalization was difficult to come by, they would still come to the USA. Why? Because police here have to abide by the law. They don't kidnap people and accept bribes, and if there is any wrongdoing by police, it is investigated and punished harshly. Just that makes living in the USA illegally far more preferable than living legally in Mexico.
Fourth, there is still a spirit of frontier and self-defense, though this is waning since our society has little fear anymore of armed foreign cultures pillaging our homes, or even predatory animals. This is probably the forefront of complacency, and I shocked a co-worker when I stated that we needed an armed citizenry to deter invasion from a foreign nation.
I believe these are the four essential philosophies to a successful nation, and they are all rooted in the Protestant Christianity of the time of our founding. While the US is not driven by Protestant Christianity anymore, these philosophies endure and serve as a bulwark against socialist and communist incursions into the public mindset. Sure, the battering of the family and armed self-defense has taken its toll, but it is when hard work is laughed at instead of revered, reading is no longer promoted, and bribery becomes common that we know that the foundation has crumbled.
Not ALL- but if you see them associated in any way with OPEN SOURCE then yes, probably liberal.
i agree and they forget Linux is UNIX and wonder why Grandma isn’t rushing out to by Ubuntu or whatever idiot name they come up with last to check for email from her grandchildren.
I’m with you on the Libertarian assessment... most of the IT/programming people I know are that way. I think it’s mostly the small-government, extremely-pro-privacy aspect that attracts them most. Heck, the more I understand computers and networking and the internet and privacy issues, the more part of me never wants to use anything that could in any way be connected to or accessed from the internet ever again.
But you’re right about the economics. Our idea of economics is ‘So everyone’s dependent on computers, and the computers will break down without us, therefore people need us - hey, job security!’ or in programming school it’s something like ‘Without my parents’ health insurance, I’d have to pay too much for my adderal to be able to make a profit selling it to other programming majors who are trying to pull an all-nighter!’
A ping to your excellent home page - and to this thread I hope you'll like (if you haven't seen it).
Thank you for Pinging me into this thread - I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
The writers’ contributions have displayed what I love so much about this forum - its diversity and its brain power and its respect for others’ opinions.
I had a cramp reading how difficult it was for people to equate IQ with politics.
IQ is as variable in abilities and disabilities as the people who own them. I find it beautiful that we are all so diverse with the gifts we have been given but the gifts aren’t always used well and until we find our niche in expressing our best intellect (no matter if it takes a lifetime), we are never certain who we are.
We become a holding pattern over our life waiting for the right landing access. Once found, we latch onto the ideals
formed or talents honed, and treat them as lifelong companions. It can be such a satisfying journey if we allow ourselves the comfort of knowing we don’t have to be the same. Each of us offers something to the group.
My prayer for the people who pass by here is they all continue to look forward to the next days regardless if our wishes are granted or not and learn from our previous errors if possible. Even more important than comparing errors, acceptance would be a wise choice. Life goes on regardless.
Conservatives are given the tough task of minding the nation and it is not easy - but by their very nature, those good people will continue to do the job through their love
and knowledge it is a worthy one.
“Techs are by and large economic conservatives like myself. Or so I’ve noticed. Many of us have no use for the Sarah Palin wing of conservatism.”
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Signup date: 10-24-2008?
Sure thing troll! Palin supporting small-l libertarian programmer, here...
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