
Simone Giertz makes a living creating shitty robots (2016) [video] - ogig
https://qz.com/695832/this-robotics-hobbyist-makes-a-living-creating-shitty-robots/
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packetslave
She's part of Adam Savage's "Tested" crew too, and her YouTube channel is
hilarious.

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gresrun
YT Channel:
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3KEoMzNz8eYnwBC34RaKCQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3KEoMzNz8eYnwBC34RaKCQ)

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cantrip
She studied engineering, programming, and robotics, she makes a living making
robots full time, and yet the article title calls her a "robotics hobbyist"
and the article says she's a "robot enthusiast".

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computerex
> She studied engineering, programming, and robotics

To be honest, I can't actually find any evidence that she graduated with even
a bachelors for any of the topics you listed. It appears that she makes a
living by being primarily an entertainer, not an engineer. In this context, I
think the titles "robotics hobbyist" and "robot enthusiast" are appropriate
and accurate.

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cantrip
I guess I've just never considered a college degree a prerequisite for
professional respect.

Even if you do think that way, and you consider her as completely an
entertainer with robotics as her medium, is she a robotics hobbyist?

Are all professional rock musicians just guitar enthusiasts?

My suspicion is that she is called so simply because of her gender, and that a
male "entertainer", college drop out or not, would be called an engineer.

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computerex
Respect comes with competence. I respect her as an entertainer, because that
is where her competence seems to be. I think her content is great and I enjoy
her work.

> Are all professional rock musicians just guitar enthusiasts? My suspicion is
> that she is called so simply because of her gender, and that a male
> "entertainer", college drop out or not, would be called an engineer.

Would you trust that college drop out "engineer" to work on the bridge used by
hundreds of thousands of people or fly in an airplane designed and built by
that "engineer"? There are some disciplines that I think should very strictly
and rigorously test for competence, because the alternative is people dying.
Engineering is one of those disciplines, and so is medicine. I don't want a
college drop out "surgeon" with no formal training in the discipline operating
on my body. Maybe I am just not as trusting as you are. But I doubt most
people follow the same line of reasoning that you do.

Can you provide some examples of a male entertainer who does the same type of
work that Simon does but is labeled as an engineer?

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sillysaurus3
Every time this argument comes up, the first reaction is to talk about fields
where lives are on the line: Would you trust a doctor without a degree? Etc.

These situations are comparatively rare. If you have to reach for them, it may
as well be conceding the point: A dropout's work is just as good, yes, in all
but a few corner cases.

In fact, they usually dropped out because some business was willing to pay
them for their work now, rather than wait till they graduated.

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computerex
> These situations are comparatively rare. If you have to reach for them, it
> may as well be conceding the point: A dropout's work is just as good, yes,
> in all but a few corner cases.

I think you unilaterally decided that these situations are rare. I
wholeheartedly disagree with that sentiment. This is _why_ we are having this
debate.

> A dropout's work is just as good, yes, in all but a few corner cases.

You'd have to be seriously screwed up in the head to actually believe that as
a fact. What possible line of reasoning can you be using to say that someone
who is formally trained and educated in a discipline is worst or equal to
someone who is not? Are you saying that formal education is a total waste of
time?

Yes there are exceptions and there have been prodigious people who were ahead
of their time but that is why we have a word to describe these extremely rare
occurrences.

> In fact, they usually dropped out because some business was willing to pay
> them for their work now, rather than wait till they graduated.

Do you have a source for this information?

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sillysaurus3
_You 'd have to be seriously screwed up in the head to actually believe that
as a fact._

You're not allowed to get personal here. Once you cool off, maybe we can
resume this.

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swayvil
This is inspiring as hell.

Simone is making the world a better place in a big way.

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corndoge
She gets money from selling novelty vids to television programmes. How does
this make the world a better place?

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godzillabrennus
Entertaining people with science.

Making machines less scary so people are less fearful.

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stcredzero
_Making machines less scary so people are less fearful._

So when Skynet finally decides it's Judgement Day, it's easier for Skynet to
eliminate the most dangerous scourge on Earth: Humanity.

~~~
lsc
You are downvoted, of course, because we all know what side our bread is
buttered on. When the revolution comes, many of us here will probably not be
friends with John Connor.

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watwut
I wish article would have different title, so that people would be less primed
to go into gender war over this or that.

The video is really funny. I think I will look her up, because of how it makes
robots making look.

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asciimo
Amazingly, she learned English from television.
[https://youtu.be/z8NIw1HeBBk](https://youtu.be/z8NIw1HeBBk)

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jacquesm
If you like Simone Giertz' work and you haven't seen it yet please go see the
movie 'Modern Times' by Charles Chaplin.

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lawlessone
There is nothing new under the sun.

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bigiain
And a better take on Simone's work from Daily Beast:

[https://www.thedailybeast.com/ces-was-full-of-useless-
robots...](https://www.thedailybeast.com/ces-was-full-of-useless-robots-and-
machines-that-dont-work)

~~~
tw1010
That article is about CES. It mentions her name once in the first paragraph
and then never again.

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mrarjen
Pretty much the same amount of text as the gz article then. I find her video's
rather inspiring showing what is possible with robots and also how they are
incomprehensibly useless in most ways for tasks that are not laid out
perfectly for them.

