I think the causes are simple. It appears to me most of the things we observe and experience in life have simple causes, though often there are many other lesser variables which factor in and sometimes make the reasons why difficult to discern. When I see people trying to understand and correct what appear to be various problems in society, many of the causes they perceive do cause the problems they are trying correct. However, they don't seem to make progress because they are not adressing, or simply not aware of the base factors; i.e., the "causes" they address are really effects of other causes. Once this is realized and addressed, I think people will see that all the problems they see in this world are really the effects of another fundamental problem. Otherwise, we'll keep going in circles. The notion of attacking the branches of evil instead of the root comes to mind. Truth when found is simple. As far as CS is concerned, the reasons people give for that field being the way it is tend to be true, but I don't think the explanations go deep enough. (Sorry for being long-winded)
I think in trying to understand why this situation is the way it is people are overlooking some fundamentals. Things have always been this way with our species and what we're seeing in CS is really a symptom of something else: the nature of the human genders. History, our current civilization, and introspection reveal to me that the genders have certain preferences because of their spiritual, mental, and physical composition. Men tend to dwell on the logical plane (as hard as that is to beleive sometimes), while women tend to dwell on the emotional plane. Thus men will naturally gravitate towards scientific, industrial and technical matters while women will be drawn towards social and artistic matters. Neither is better than the other; both are necessary halves of a whole and contain part of the other (the yin/yang symbol comes to mind). Those women who've been drawn to scientific and other normally male dominated interests have been and sometimes still are discouraged. This is unfortunate; I think female input into the normally "male" fields would make them more life affirming. This suppression of female expression is, I think, based in part on the observed difference between the genders and negatively reinforces it. Women should be encouraged (but not pushed) to pursue these fields. However, in the end, even if we lived in a balanced society where people were encouraged and free to pursue what their hearts desire, I think the current male dominated fields would still be so, though the disparity might not be as great.
Slashdot Mirror
I think the causes are simple. It appears to me most of the things we observe and experience in life have simple causes, though often there are many other lesser variables which factor in and sometimes make the reasons why difficult to discern. When I see people trying to understand and correct what appear to be various problems in society, many of the causes they perceive do cause the problems they are trying correct. However, they don't seem to make progress because they are not adressing, or simply not aware of the base factors; i.e., the "causes" they address are really effects of other causes. Once this is realized and addressed, I think people will see that all the problems they see in this world are really the effects of another fundamental problem. Otherwise, we'll keep going in circles. The notion of attacking the branches of evil instead of the root comes to mind. Truth when found is simple. As far as CS is concerned, the reasons people give for that field being the way it is tend to be true, but I don't think the explanations go deep enough. (Sorry for being long-winded)
I think in trying to understand why this situation is the way it is people are overlooking some fundamentals. Things have always been this way with our species and what we're seeing in CS is really a symptom of something else: the nature of the human genders. History, our current civilization, and introspection reveal to me that the genders have certain preferences because of their spiritual, mental, and physical composition. Men tend to dwell on the logical plane (as hard as that is to beleive sometimes), while women tend to dwell on the emotional plane. Thus men will naturally gravitate towards scientific, industrial and technical matters while women will be drawn towards social and artistic matters. Neither is better than the other; both are necessary halves of a whole and contain part of the other (the yin/yang symbol comes to mind). Those women who've been drawn to scientific and other normally male dominated interests have been and sometimes still are discouraged. This is unfortunate; I think female input into the normally "male" fields would make them more life affirming. This suppression of female expression is, I think, based in part on the observed difference between the genders and negatively reinforces it. Women should be encouraged (but not pushed) to pursue these fields. However, in the end, even if we lived in a balanced society where people were encouraged and free to pursue what their hearts desire, I think the current male dominated fields would still be so, though the disparity might not be as great.