

Darpa Chief: Fix America’s Critical Geek Shortage - edw519
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/03/darpa-chief-fix-americas-critical-geek-shortage/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

======
bediger
Well, geez, make it possible to have a career in engineering, then, or make it
possible to have a career in science without a post-doc.

Also, stop the War on the Unexpected, where people with home-built electronics
are immediately under suspicion as "terrorists", model rockets get considered
to be SAMs, and any home chemistry at all is a WMD. You can't make children
who have been savagely discouraged from experimenting since birth into
curious, problem-solving experimenters in college.

Oh, and you should stop the whole "Intellectual Property" thing in its tracks.
Ideas aren't "property", and attempting to imbue, say, mathematics/programs
with legal attributes of "property" will kill all possible innovation, and the
desire to innovate.

------
onetimeiter
i hope this is a bad april fool's joke...

~~~
argv_empty
I agree, it seems odd to complain about a geek shortage at a time when there
are plenty of out-of-work geeks around. Hire some of them.

That said, the article mentions cuts in Darpa's funding for research at
universities makes me wonder if they're hoping more for geeks with grad
degrees. Hard to tell for sure.

~~~
sliverstorm
It's true there are plenty of out-of-work geeks, but I believe she is
referring to the future. It is my understanding that the number of American
students entering 'geeky' degrees is declining rapidly, which is certainly
concerning for DARPA in both medium- and long-term P.O.V.'s.

