Are Engineers Natural Libertarians Or Technocrats?

uctpjac writes "This openDemocracy article uses Scott Adams' presidential bid to argue that however much engineers — especially Silicon Valley types — like to think that they're libertarians, they are in fact much more likely to be control-freak technocrats. Quoting: 'Sensibly if uncharismatically, Adams has pledged if elected to delegate most of his decisions to people who know more than him, and flip-flop on any issue where new evidence causes him to modify his position. His worldview has its limitations – he underestimates the value of ways of thinking other than the engineer's, and it's naïve of him to claim his approach to policy is purely pragmatic and non-ideological.' Is this a fair account? Has the author wrongly read Dilbert, or wrongly interpreted the relationship between the engineering mindset and Adams' representation of it in the cartoon strip?"

Vote for me!

[stevegee58]

I promise, that if elected, to suspend the Constitution and become a benevolent despot to straighten everything out.
I further promise to leave voluntarily after a 10 year term and restore the Constitution. I swear.

Re:We'll be whatever you want...

[Defenestrar]

No. Engineers may work in paper mills, sewage plants, and might even design weapons for indiscriminate sale, but some things will always cross the line... properly commenting our own code, for example.

Re:Pick Two

[Lifyre]

You know thinking about Politicians in terms of Dogbert explains so much...

Re:We'll be whatever you want...

[gorzek]

That's called "job security"!

(For anyone who doesn't get it, I'm kidding. I hate it when people don't comment their code, especially when it's for that very reason.)

Re:I'm wired as an engineer...

[russotto]

... but also as an economic socialist and a social conservative. Can I find libertarian in there somewhere?

An economic socialist and a social conservative? So you'll take all our money and refuse to let us have porn or drugs? Ugh.

Re:Perspective

[m3000]

It's a good thing business have never scammed anyone or gone after short term gains instead of long term stability then.

With upstanding businesses like Enron and WorldCom looking out for their reputations, I'm confident we'll never need any sort of regulations either!

Re:We'll be whatever you want...

[gorzek]

Much of the code I work with is written in MUMPS.

Pity me.

Re:Libertarians?

[MindlessAutomata]

Like Occupy Wall St. supporters, right?