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Engineers Have a Terrorist Mindset?
An anonymous reader writes "Do engineers have a way of looking at the world not all that different from terrorists? According to an article in the EE Times, they do. The story cites 'Engineers of Jihad,' a paper (pdf download) by two Oxford University sociologists, who found that graduates in science, engineering, and medicine are strongly overrepresented among Islamist movements. The paper also found that engineers are 'over-represented' among graduates who gravitate to violent groups. Authors Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog chalk this all up to what they call the 'engineering mindset,' which they define as 'a mindset that inclines them to take more extreme conservative and religious positions.' Is this just pop psychology masquerading as science?"
Engineer's mindset: "What makes this thing tick"
Terrorist's mindset: "I know why this thing is ticking"
We engineers aren't the most proactive types, we tend to sit next to the flag, banging away on our defenses and designing new weapons in our heads. Oh, and watching out for those dog-gone spies.
Demented But Determined.
It's all becoming clear now. A lot of Islamic terrorists are engineers. That explains why they have no infrastructure over there... The engineers are too busy killing themselves to build a society. Boy I'm glad my engineering degree will be put to better use than suicide.
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
http://xkcd.com/319/
http://xkcd.com/253/
Anyone have a link to the one that is done in a "vertical" layout?
Living With a Nerd
Great, a pissed of /.er. How long till he blows something up now?
I hear your pain, friend. Time to strap on some C-4 and head for the Slashdot headquarters!
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
This clearly underlines why math, science and engineering must be eradicated from the US educational system.
Don't you think that 'science, engineering and medicine' graduates is quite a wide range of people? This study could just as well end up with the conclusion "arts students or those without higher education aren't motivated enough to be terrorists", or "would be terrorists that don't have scientific knowledge tend to blow themselves up before they can get anywhere in the world of terror".
PS if you fucking disagree with me I'm going to fucking mailbomb all your fucking email addresses and DDoS your remaining fucking servers.
which is totally what she said
It's that mandatory Circuits course that the mechanical engineers and others outside EE are required to take is what is breeding terrorists, I tell you. Requiring MEs to learn op amps is what is giving them that sour outlook on life.
Take a frog, and yell JUMP!
The frog jumps.
Now, cut off one of its legs and yell JUMP!
The frog jumps, but not as far.
Now, cut off the other leg and yell JUMP!
The frog does not jump.
Conclusion: The amputee frog is deaf.
Abstract: For centuries, science has been mystified by how frogs hear without ears. Our recent work has at last resolved this long standing mystery by showing that in frogs, the ability to hear is closely correlated to the number of legs present on the frog. The hearing organ's location in the frog's legs explains the absence of any ears at their expected location. In future studies, we will determine if the frog's hearing apparatus is in fact located on the frog's feet, as is suspected from their ear-like morphology.
Other than a strange obsession with Cricket
Damn foriegners and their freaky strange obsessions.
Ooooo! Gotta run..... I think Brittney shaved her head again!
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
oh wait.
You could also say: "Men without girlfriends are over represented in terrorist groups."
I've always found that the second scariest thing on Halloween was a bored Engineer. The scariest? Multiple bored Engineers, working together.
My karma is in a nose dive
Ah, but you had a good experience because you went to Colorado. If you had gone to New York or urban parts of California, you would have been treated very rudely. Bunch of assholes in those places, I tell you.