
Let the engineers rule  - mixmax
http://www.maximise.dk/blog/2009/03/financial-engineers-are-out-real.html
======
DarkShikari
If you're looking for a country ruled by engineers, one of the closest
examples you'll find is... China.

Jiang Zemin? Electrical Engineer. Hu Jintao? Hydraulic Engineer. Wen Jiabao?
Geomechanical Engineer. Zhu Rongji? Electrical Engineer.

You have to go back to the time of Deng Xiaoping to find leaders who _weren't_
engineers. China's current party doctrine? "Scientific Development Concept," a
seemingly engineering-inspired strategy, the concepts of which have Mao
rolling in his grave.

One can see the results of this sort of engineering-driven government in
projects like the Three Gorges Dam; the Party leaders did an engineering-style
cost/benefit analysis, measuring the cost of displacing millions of people
versus the benefit of the dam, and decided in favor of the dam.

For better or for worse, China has become the closest thing there is to a
country run by engineers.

~~~
sketerpot
I have a lot of sympathy for China's rulers. They have a tough situation, and
any course of action they take will make them look like idiots or bastards. I
think they could definitely stand to be more open, and that it's probably just
insecurity and FUD that's causing them to go for a censorship-laden, heavy-
handed method of social control, but they're doing a decent job.

Maybe I'm biased because I swoon whenever I think of how easily China decided
to build a new generation of nuclear power plants, while the Home of the Brave
is still too terrified of miniscule or nonexistent risks.

------
geebee
As someone with a math major/engineering MS, I was of course pleased to hear
Barak say this. But of course, our president himself has a law degree. Most of
the politicians who want Americans to become engineers are lawyers themselves.

I remember an absolutely fantastic Onion article titled "Report: 98 Percent Of
U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others"

[http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_98_percent_of_u_...](http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_98_percent_of_u_s_commuters)

I suspect that 98% of lawyer/politicians favor engineering careers - for
others.

~~~
sketerpot
If most politicians who want Americans to become engineers are lawyers then
it's because most politicians are lawyers (or something similar). Selection
bias. This explanation is simple and non-malicious.

~~~
geebee
I'm responding to this very late, unfortunately.

But maybe the preponderance of lawyers in American politics is part of the
problem. Engineering or science is a far more common background among national
leaders in Europe and Asia - and this may turn out to provide a massive
competitive advantage over the US in the future. Thomas Friedman in "the world
is flat" mentions this possibility a few times.

I voted for Barak, and I'm happy to have him as my president. But actions
speak a lot louder than words. If this immensely popular president is a lawyer
who encourages kids to be engineers, the kids will who admire him will want to
become lawyers who encourage people to be engineers.

------
Kototama
_The man who most wants to rule the universe is the one that is least suited
to do so. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. So a sneaky scheme has been
devised: The ruler of the universe doesn't know, or care for that matter, that
he happens to rule the universe._

This idea remains me the Republic of Plato:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_(dialogue)>

The ideal Republic of Plato is ruled by philosophers with no interests for the
power itself.

~~~
berntb
When irritated, I used to say to friends "When I take over, you'll be up
against the wall with the first billion along with X, Y and Z."

I had to find a new joke when my friends noted that the total sums of all the
groups I'd promised to be among the first billion up against the wall was at
least 10 billion people. (-: Well, I'm not a people person in the mornings.
:-)

So when the time for voting for world president/dictator comes around, I
promise that everyone voting for me won't be among the first billion up
against the wall. "Why settle for the lesser evil, vote berntb!"

------
Dilpil
Power comes to those who spend their lives pursuing it. This is not about to
change.

~~~
mixmax
The post was actually a bit of an appeal for engineers and innovators to be
more powerhungry. I'd rather have Larry Ellison than Hank Paulson run the
companies that matter to the economy.

~~~
donaq
I suspect that the process of pursuing and attaining power would change
engineer types into what they detested. You cannot win the game without
becoming a player. Unless the game (society itself) changes to favour those
who do not desire power. I consider that an extremely unlikely scenario.

------
rjprins
To paraphrase Churchill: Democracy is a horrible system, but it's the best
we've got.

Democracy opens the way to power hungry people, it's also very sensitive to
information manipulation.

I always thought it must be possible to create a government ruled by
engineers. The main problem is ofcourse, how do you select the engineers? I
think, create an academic and psychological test, open to everybody, then
select two groups randomly. One group will propose changes with arguments. The
other group will decide if they will be accepted.

Do this for a regular time interval, say 4 years.

------
TweedHeads
Enginocracy?

~~~
palish
Reddit, stage right.

------
martythemaniak
Isn't abstinence-only education a proven failure? What makes Obama think he
can succeed where Bush failed so badly?

<http://www.eatliver.com/img/2007/2302.jpg>

~~~
sketerpot
Obama opposes abstinence-only sex ed. He has said so repeatedly, and worked it
into his policies. Also, your link leads to a "no hotlinking" image. So,
omnifail.

