This is a must read: “We’re looking for a few boring dorks; the engineer shortage made simple.”
[Forwarded to me by an MIT faculty member who probably wishes to remain anonymous. Posted from the delightful FBO in hip lakeside Madison, Wisconsin (UW is not a “tech dork mill”), about to leave for Winnipeg.]
How true; this can be expanded to our lack of technology and product leadership in consumer products and other areas. maybe lifetime employment in a big japanese company is one type of solution.
We lost the momentum from the 60s space race. Time to come up with something new. Problem is… I really think people dont care anymore as long they have their walmarts to go to.
I can see why someone would describe MIT as a tech dork mill, but Caltech only churns out about 200 tech dorks per year, not exactly mass production.
Related to this same subject, there’s Neal Stephenson’s op-ed today in the NYT, in which he uses “Star wars” as a metaphor to drive the same point across.
(Personally, I think that his “Star wars” interpretation/metaphor is a bit forced, but his main point is one that will probably resonate with Phil: if we keep wanting to enjoy the luxuries and wealth created by science and technology, but we don’t want to bother learning about science and technology anymore, we are doomed).