The Ghost World of Liberals and Conservatives

[Betruger]

http://neuropolitics.org
Came across this site. Haven't read through it yet, could all be built on cranky premises or turn out to have biased direction, but at a glance it seems to be an in-depth effort and I haven't seen such an attempt to thoroughly dig into correlations between neuroscience and politics before.

[Diogenes]

I've discussed this issue with others. There has been a lot of speculation as to whether left brain or right brain dominance directly drives a person's political outlook. Liberals tend to be creative, while Conservatives tend to be practical. It's good to see that someone is trying to take this discussion further into the realm of a workable theory.

[MSimon]

And Libertarians are creative and practical. Which is why I believe they predominate in engineering.

BTW I like this one on the thermodynamics of politics.

A thermodynamic explanation of politics

[Diogenes]

And Libertarians are creative and practical. Which is why I believe they predominate in engineering.

BTW I like this one on the thermodynamics of politics.

A thermodynamic explanation of politics

The possibility that most engineers grew up in Urban environments might give them a naturally occurring liberal skew socially, while engineering training in numbers and practicality might give them a conservative skew fiscally could not possibly have anything to do with it?

I've known plenty of conservative engineers, but they didn't grow up in large cities, either. Demographics count for a lot in how a person is steered through life.

[IntLibber]

And Libertarians are creative and practical. Which is why I believe they predominate in engineering.

BTW I like this one on the thermodynamics of politics.

A thermodynamic explanation of politics

The possibility that most engineers grew up in Urban environments might give them a naturally occurring liberal skew socially, while engineering training in numbers and practicality might give them a conservative skew fiscally could not possibly have anything to do with it?

I've known plenty of conservative engineers, but they didn't grow up in large cities, either. Demographics count for a lot in how a person is steered through life.

I'd also say that rural engineering types are a lot more likely to not attain a university degree, but wind up doing the same work based on more informal education. They tend to come up in the machine trades, get some drafting training, continue to hit the books as they work their careers. By the time they are 40 or so, they are as well educated as any 22 year old graduate. The official bean counters don't consider them engineers, though, even though they know as much, or more, as any engineer.

[MSimon]

The official bean counters don't consider them engineers, though, even though they know as much, or more, as any engineer.

In that regard I like to say I was never qualified for any position I ever held.

You can beat the HR racket by being a contract engineer. No one cares if you have a degree in that case. All they care about is can you do the work?

[WizWom]

I'd also say that rural engineering types are a lot more likely to not attain a university degree, but wind up doing the same work based on more informal education. They tend to come up in the machine trades, get some drafting training, continue to hit the books as they work their careers. By the time they are 40 or so, they are as well educated as any 22 year old graduate. The official bean counters don't consider them engineers, though, even though they know as much, or more, as any engineer.

Well, they could get the bean counters to accept they know there stuff by getting their P.E. cert; it's not expensive, and with no degree it's just 8 yrs of experience.
But my Dad never finished college, had a good solid 45 year career, and I don't think he ever had any trouble from not finishing. Of course, his advice for getting an engineering job was "lie and say you can do whatever they ask. Then learn it in the first week."

[MSimon]

"lie and say you can do whatever they ask. Then learn it in the first week."

A man after my own heart.