Why are so many techs liberal?

Here | Now | Me

[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?

[randog]

Becuase they think they can do anything given enough resources and money.

LOL! I think you've hit it on the head!

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

I think it can often be a lack of balance that robs the techie type of some of the normalcy most experience.

How much of one’s life technology consumes may be an indicator of how detached from everyday living a person might be.

With all due respect to the “normal” techies here, a good many techies just have a nerd quality that is noticeable at a glance. I think the very fact that many of them are so into technology is because they don’t mix as well with the general population.

I’m not sure why that would lead them toward liberalism other than they may be apathetic or can’t be distracted long enough to see what is going on around them. They probably depend on the MSM and believe that is all they need to be informed.

[Countyline]

It isn't intelligence. The smarter a person is the more he is likely to trust in his own judgement. Which is dependent for the most part on his early upbring and education.

It is in realizing the miracles around us and the miracles of our own body that we know there is a higher power ... a creator God. Who wants us to know about Him and gives us a Book of Instructions about the past, present and future of earth and man.

Eyes that see.
ears that hear,
injuries that heal,
broken bones that knit back together,
blood that clots
and then there is the brain,
speech,
the heart,
Skin that breathes,
sweats,
holds our fluids inside
Atoms,
the power that holds planets, stars, in orbit,
the universe.
water
rain
Air
atmosphere
We can learn about the things like gravity
Yet it is all held together by a power science can not find

We take it all as a given. Man can study it and set the bone and sew up the cut, etc
millions of varieties,
plants,
animals,
birds,
Whales
You get the idea... really consider it

...
Just the tip of the iceberg.

[TChris]

I'd say that most scientific disciplines would be mostly liberals. As a general rule, the more educated you are, the more likely you are to be less or non-religious and depend more on human knowledge than faith, etc. As always, there are exceptions, but I believe that's the trend.

Among groups of physicists, chemists, biologists, mathemeticians, engineers, etc., I would bet $50 that the majority are liberal.

[Sundog]

Bingo. It is just that simple. I’m retired after working a lifetime in the software industry— all the OSes.

Us older guys will talk about guns, concealed carry permits, hunting, bullets, adventures, and the game we’ve shot.

The younger guys, typified by liking the band U2, tell us, “we don’t get off on guns like that.” By that they mean they inculcate in their young ones the notion that guns are bad, the same way as our moms used to tell us germs are bad.

Younger guys then tend to be liberal such that everything presented in movies is more valid that what is experienced in real life. Obama couldn’t be a bad president because Will Smith couldn’t be a bad actor.

[Porterville]

I’m just teasing, I make a fair portion of my money by being a techie.....

I can be overweight and smell when I eat garlic. ;)

[Infidel Puppy]

Most high-level techs (Senior Software Engineers, Software and Technical Architects) are Libertarians. At least, the ones who have ever ventured into consulting or self-employment.

They understand the value of distributed capability, loosely coupled integration, and the impossibility of successfully centralizing command and control for any but the most rudimentary systems. Low-level techs, programmers and the like - who cares. They are drones with a skill no more unique or demanding than that possessed by hundreds of millions of Indians and Chinese clones.

[Jim Scott]

I think that, as Rush Limbaugh has said, it's easy to be a liberal. You're against war, poverty and anyone wealthier than you. Between the public school and university brainwashing the young with liberal fallacies and the self-gratification of thinking you're smarter and more compassionate than anyone else, liberalism is very seductive, especially to the young and/or the politically naive, which often are synonymous.

Besides, being 'compassionate' with other people's money while sneering at the values and traditions of those who think differently (conservatives) has always been a political aphrodisiac. I think this is at the core of many Obama supporters who haven't a clue as to who he really is or what he plans for this nation, if elected. I pray he is not.

I fear an Obama presidency coupled with a Democrat congressional majority would do what the hard-core left (Bill Ayres types) have desired for decades; the destruction (financially, militarily and culturally) of this great nation. If that happens, we will not see the likes of America for a very, very long time.

Note to Senator McCain: Call it socialism, communism or simply 'progressive politics', the liberal elites want to rule, not negotiate and if they ever get to the place where they can do so, America as we know and love it is finished.

[TiberiusClaudius]

I'm not sure if this is a rejection of the hypothesis, but ...

Almost all of my "best" coworkers were, and are, conservative. I can think of a single coworker, who was friendly, honest, compentent, and liberal.

[papasmurf]

Why are so many techs liberal?

I don't know, why did Steve Jobs give $1000,000 to defeat Prop 8 in California?

Apple donates $100,000 to fight same-sex marriage ban



Answer: They all hate us Conservatives because we force them to recognize their depraved lifestyle.

[dfwright]

Think about just how aligned our work is with a Liberal world-view. For instance:

1) We work to develop and maintain huge, bloated operating systems that rule over everyone and everybody, always offering more features and programs to the masses.

2) We always want more power.

3) We reserve the right to have total control over what our constituents do with the resources we give them.

4) We demand a fair share for all. If a server is overloaded, we “share the wealth” and load-balance.

5) If something isn’t working the way it should, we believe we can just reboot and try the same thing again to see if happens again the same way.

6) If there’s a problem, we just put a “patch” on it, and keep rolling.

I am sure there are further similarities...

[Porterville]

I like his story... but he is too forgiving to nerds... NERDS!!!

I liked Boogar... he was my favorite nerd.... but Poindexter was pretty funny too. And the gay black guy Lammar.... Lambda Lambda Lambda and... Omega Moooo

[Still Thinking]

LOL!

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

It’s because a person can be high-IQ, and still be an easily-led moron.

[FreeAtlanta]

A lot are heavy into open source (I am too), but they can't separate the - open source /free software / everything belongs to everyone - from real life socialism.

They are simple minded and thought outside the lines is difficult for them.

[rollo tomasi]

Liberated genitals > True freedom (Which requires responsibility)

[NinoFan]

“They’re typically maladjusted socially, and as such were lonely, alienated, picked on and teased as children, even though they were smart. They tend to direct their resentment and contempt toward the popular, normal, religious, happy, and well-adjusted in society.”

I think there is quite a bit of truth to this. Most IT guys I know tend to think very highly of themselves and love to hate on any group which they never really belonged to when they were younger. That includes jocks, popular kids, bible lovers, cheerleaders, etc. I think they associate these groups more with Republicans than with Democrats, so a lot of the hate comes from there. It’s understandable in some ways, because often times some of those groups are comprised of people who are complete idiots and buttholes, but still, an intelligent person should be able to get beyond the hate.

Oh, and of course, a thoughtful person would realize that many Democrats support wild environmental and growth policies because of some new age belief system (read: religion), so the Republicans certainly aren’t the only ones that allow religion to enter their politics.

Also, despite their claims to be against mob rule and groupthink, there is nothing like the most techie of techie websites Digg when it comes to close-mindedness. Seriously, if those guyss were in charge of the country right now, Bush would be in prison, Obama and Ron Paul would have gold statues on every main street, religion would be outlawed (with scientologists receiving an extra painful execution), and Hayden Panetierre would be forced to make love to a geek each night.

[the_Watchman]

In our software shop in Arizona the conservatives outnumber the liberals, but the liberals are far more vocal.

Engineers tend to not have a good grounding in economics.

Ask your friends how they feel about the eminent domain decision by the Supreme Court a few years back. Question: Should the power of government be used to forcibly take property from an individual to be given to a developer. Part of the justification was a better tax base.

Most people side with the hapless property owner against the “evil” developer. Point out that the court decision broke on idealogical lines. Guess who sided with the “evil” developer against the individual property owner? I suspect most will not guess that the liberals all sided with taking the property away and giving it to the developer.

Why?

Because liberals have no inherent respect for your property rights. Their position on eminent domain is consistent with their view on taxation. They are not taxing YOUR money, they are claiming what is fairly the governments!

[cynwoody]

There was a transition in the early eighties. The cohort of people doing software and teaching software changed. It was engineers and accountant-types. It switched to liberal arts types as the field opened up.

The transition predated the eighties, at least among the significant innovators. Remember What the Dormouse Said.

[rabscuttle385]

Becuase they think they can do anything given enough resources and money.

Don't worry. That attitude disappears quickly if you require them to take basic financial accouting and microeconomics courses as part of any computing degree program.