Engineers Over-Represented in All Terrorist Populations

[EMP]

http://chronicle.com/article/Does-Engineering-Education/235800

Spoiler alert - They are not recruited more.

Anyone else unsurprised by these findings?

[onlykelsey]

http://chronicle.com/article/Does-Engineering-Education/235800

Spoiler alert - They are not recruited more.

Anyone else unsurprised by these findings?

No, unfortunately.  I'd like to read the underlying study, but I wonder if part of it is just due to the fact that terrorists are overwhelmingly male, and engineering is (not as) overwhelmingly a male field.

[nobodyspecial]

There may also be a bias toward reporting terrorist organisations that actually manage to do terrorism.

The others ?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUBAx8jbYNs

[Yaeger]

Isn't this a general trend in developing countries, where young adults tend to specialize in more practical fields of study like engineering and the sciences compared to the U.S. and Europe?

[onlykelsey]

Isn't this a general trend in developing countries, where young adults tend to specialize in more practical fields of study like engineering and the sciences compared to the U.S. and Europe?

I think they ruled that out, although I haven't read the full study.

"..The researchers narrowed their list to 207 people who pursued higher education and whose majors could be determined. A pattern emerged: 93 of them, nearly 45 percent, had studied engineering. This frequency far exceeded what would be predicted statistically; among male college students from the 19 countries represented in the sample, fewer than 12 percent studied engineering."

Looks like <12% of men generally studied engineering, but nearly half the terrorists they were looking at.

[EMP]

They also found this trend in the US with white supremacist and other domestic terror organizations.

[onlykelsey]

They also found this trend in the US with white supremacist and other domestic terror organizations.

I wonder if that black and white numbers focused thing tends to correlate with lack of empathy or with sociopathy.

[big_owl]

What do you expect?  We're underpaid, underappreciated by management, the bore of every party, nobody cares about our videogaming skills, and we can't talk to girls.  It's the only way out....

[Metric Mouse]

What do you expect?  We're underpaid, underappreciated by management, the bore of every party, nobody cares about our videogaming skills, and we can't talk to girls.  It's the only way out....

Wow, mixed with terrorist tropes, this is probably the most stereotypical post I'll read all day.

[Yaeger]

Case in point, I saw it in a documentary once where an engineer was helping terrorists build weapons, it was a clear example of how engineers align with terrorists. He then got upset when his employers demanded results from their investment into him and he wasn't able to provide so, as an emotionally fragile engineer, he built a flying robot suit that with advanced weaponry and murdered his employers on the path to a new career.

[GuitarStv]

Engineers are problem solvers at heart.  Terrorists are trying to solve what they see as a problem.  That and an awful lot of engineers develop a deep seated dislike of other people because of the way that we have to deal with them.  :P

I'm not surprised.

[bobechs]

Since I'm old enough to remember going to college when World Islam was a bulwark against the highly touted existential threat to us and our way of life posed by Communist revolutionaries, open guerilla types and hidden spies as well as homegrown campus-bomb-planting revolutionary leftists, I also remember the commonplace observation of the time about the higher likelihood of engineering students choosing the Red revolutionary path; something about the appeal of simple, direct action to force the world and society into a more rational shape being appealing to that type of mind.  I don't know about studies; it was a long time ago and I have forgotten the fine details of every humanities -and engineering- course I took at the time.  There were a number of historical examples too, but I've let them slip away too.

Anyway, we don't have revolutionary youth to worry about anymore --  now it's terrorists all the way down.

Welcome to the new threat.  Same as the old threat.

[big_owl]

What do you expect?  We're underpaid, underappreciated by management, the bore of every party, nobody cares about our videogaming skills, and we can't talk to girls.  It's the only way out....

Wow, mixed with terrorist tropes, this is probably the most stereotypical post I'll read all day.

 Oh Jesus Christ.  You must be a real blast at parties. 

[Metric Mouse]

What do you expect?  We're underpaid, underappreciated by management, the bore of every party, nobody cares about our videogaming skills, and we can't talk to girls.  It's the only way out....

Wow, mixed with terrorist tropes, this is probably the most stereotypical post I'll read all day.

Oh Jesus Christ.  You must be a real blast at parties.

- Was that a terrorist pun? Cuz if it was, I like it.

[big_owl]

What do you expect?  We're underpaid, underappreciated by management, the bore of every party, nobody cares about our videogaming skills, and we can't talk to girls.  It's the only way out....

Wow, mixed with terrorist tropes, this is probably the most stereotypical post I'll read all day.

Oh Jesus Christ.  You must be a real blast at parties.

- Was that a terrorist pun? Cuz if it was, I like it.

Allah Akbar...or something. 

[GuitarStv]

What do you expect?  We're underpaid, underappreciated by management, the bore of every party, nobody cares about our videogaming skills, and we can't talk to girls.  It's the only way out....

Wow, mixed with terrorist tropes, this is probably the most stereotypical post I'll read all day.

Oh Jesus Christ.  You must be a real blast at parties.

- Was that a terrorist pun? Cuz if it was, I like it.

Allah Akbar...or something.

I think big owl has jihad it with this conversation.

[nobodyspecial]

It does suggest an obvious briliant strategy to defeat terrorism.

What is the best way of disrupting engineers? Management.

If we were to parachute crack teams of management consultants armed with Powerpoint and Six-sigma into Al-Queada, ISIS, IRA and the MMB we could reduce the incidence of clever well planed and executed terrorist acts overnight.

[big_owl]

What do you expect?  We're underpaid, underappreciated by management, the bore of every party, nobody cares about our videogaming skills, and we can't talk to girls.  It's the only way out....

Wow, mixed with terrorist tropes, this is probably the most stereotypical post I'll read all day.

Oh Jesus Christ.  You must be a real blast at parties.

- Was that a terrorist pun? Cuz if it was, I like it.

Allah Akbar...or something.

I think big owl has jihad it with this conversation.

Guilty as charged....

[GuitarStv]

It does suggest an obvious briliant strategy to defeat terrorism.

What is the best way of disrupting engineers? Management.

If we were to parachute crack teams of management consultants armed with Powerpoint and Six-sigma into Al-Queada, ISIS, IRA and the MMB we could reduce the incidence of clever well planed and executed terrorist acts overnight.

The best part of the plan is that even if the everything goes tits up and all the management consultants are violently executed on TV . . . we still win!

[Metric Mouse]

It does suggest an obvious briliant strategy to defeat terrorism.

What is the best way of disrupting engineers? Management.

If we were to parachute crack teams of management consultants armed with Powerpoint and Six-sigma into Al-Queada, ISIS, IRA and the MMB we could reduce the incidence of clever well planed and executed terrorist acts overnight.

The best part of the plan is that even if the everything goes tits up and all the management consultants are violently executed on TV . . . we still win!

"Yeah, Mark, about that expense report... I'm afraid I can't reimburse you for the semtex, and we're going to have to cancel your hotel attack project. You see, management agreed on using the R-71 timers, and you purchased the R-71S timers.... Now, I know it'll probably work, but the procurement department is pretty worked up about the whole thing, and in the current political climate, we just really need everyone to work together to restore public confidence in our organization. I'm sure you understand..."

[libertarian4321]

http://chronicle.com/article/Does-Engineering-Education/235800

Spoiler alert - They are not recruited more.

Anyone else unsurprised by these findings?

Unbelievers must die!

Long Live the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

[Miss Piggy]

"Yeah, Mark, about that expense report... I'm afraid I can't reimburse you for the semtex, and we're going to have to cancel your hotel attack project. You see, management agreed on using the R-71 timers, and you purchased the R-71S timers.... Now, I know it'll probably work, but the procurement department is pretty worked up about the whole thing, and in the current political climate, we just really need everyone to work together to restore public confidence in our organization. I'm sure you understand..."

Didn't I see this in a Dilbert cartoon a few years ago?

[forummm]

What do you expect?  We're underpaid, underappreciated by management, the bore of every party, nobody cares about our videogaming skills, and we can't talk to girls.  It's the only way out....

Wow, mixed with terrorist tropes, this is probably the most stereotypical post I'll read all day.

Oh Jesus Christ.  You must be a real blast at parties.

- Was that a terrorist pun? Cuz if it was, I like it.

Allah Akbar...or something.

I think big owl has jihad it with this conversation.

Wow, GuitarStv is the bomb!

[Metric Mouse]

"Yeah, Mark, about that expense report... I'm afraid I can't reimburse you for the semtex, and we're going to have to cancel your hotel attack project. You see, management agreed on using the R-71 timers, and you purchased the R-71S timers.... Now, I know it'll probably work, but the procurement department is pretty worked up about the whole thing, and in the current political climate, we just really need everyone to work together to restore public confidence in our organization. I'm sure you understand..."

Didn't I see this in a Dilbert cartoon a few years ago?

I'd love to see it if you could find it. I'm unwilling to Google "Dilbert Terrorist Comics" on my pc though... :D