| Topic: |
Science > Philosophy |
| User: |
"Sir Frederick" |
| Date: |
05 Feb 2008 08:42:01 PM |
| Object: |
Why I Am the Way I Am |
http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambetta/Engineers%20of%20Jihad.pdf
Holy War! Researchers say EEs have a 'terrorist mindset'
By Junko Yoshida
Courtesy of EE Times http://www.eetimes.com/;jsessionid=R5A2WXUWO0BWGQSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN
(01/28/2008 10:07 AM EST)
MANHASSET, N.Y. " Is there a thread that ties engineers to Islamic terrorism? There certainly is, according to Diego Gambetta and
Steffen Hertog at Oxford University, who recently published a paper titled, "Engineers of Jihad." The authors call the link to
terrorism "the engineer's mindset." http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambetta/Engineers%20of%20Jihad.pdf
The sociology paper published last November, which has been making rounds over the Internet and was recently picked up by The
Atlantic, uses illustrative statistics and qualitative data to conclude that there is a strong relationship between an engineering
background and involvement in a variety of Islamic terrorist groups. The authors have found that graduates in subjects such as
science, engineering, and medicine are strongly overrepresented among Islamist movements in the Muslim world. The authors also note
that engineers, alone, are strongly over-represented among graduates who gravitate to violent groups.
However, contrary to popular speculation, it's not technical skills that make engineers attractive recruits to radical groups.
Rather, the authors pose the hypothesis that "engineers have a 'mindset' that makes them a particularly good match for Islamism,"
which becomes explosive when fused by the repression and vigorous radicalization triggered by the social conditions they endured in
Islamic countries.
But what is the engineer's mindset? The authors call it a mindset that inclines them to take more extreme conservative and religious
positions. A past survey in the United States has already shown that the proportion of engineers who declare themselves to be on the
right of the political spectrum is greater than any other disciplinary groups--such as economists, doctors, scientists, and those in
the humanities and social sciences.
The authors note that the mindset is universal.
Whether American, Canadian or Islamic, they pointed out that a disproportionate share of engineers seem to have a mindset that makes
them open to the quintessential right-wing features of "monism" (why argue where there is one best solution) and by "simplism" (if
only people were rational, remedies would be simple).
----------------------------------------
regards,
your local EE
--
Frederick Martin McNeill
Poway, California, United States of America
mmcneill@fuzzysys.com
w00t *********************************
Machiavelli:
"When a republic is on the skids,
honorable men no longer seek high
office in it."
**************************************
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Why I Am the Way I Am |
05 Feb 2008 08:56:07 PM |
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On Feb 6, 12:42=A0pm, Sir Frederick <mmcne...@fuzzysys.com> wrote:
http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambetta/Engineers%20of%20Jihad.pdf
Holy War! Researchers say EEs have a 'terrorist mindset'
By Junko Yoshida =A0
Courtesy of EE Timeshttp://www.eetimes.com/;jsessionid=3DR5A2WXUWO0BWGQSND=
LPCKH0CJUNN2JVN
(01/28/2008 10:07 AM EST) =A0
MANHASSET, N.Y. " Is there a thread that ties engineers to Islamic terrori=
sm? There certainly is, according to Diego Gambetta and
Steffen Hertog at Oxford University, who recently published a paper titled=
, "Engineers of Jihad." The authors call the link to
terrorism "the engineer's mindset."http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambetta=
/Engineers%20of%20Jihad.pdf
The sociology paper published last November, which has been making rounds =
over the Internet and was recently picked up by The
Atlantic, uses illustrative statistics and qualitative data to conclude th=
at there is a strong relationship between an engineering
background and involvement in a variety of Islamic terrorist groups. The a=
uthors have found that graduates in subjects such as
science, engineering, and medicine are strongly overrepresented among Isla=
mist movements in the Muslim world. The authors also note
that engineers, alone, are strongly over-represented among graduates who g=
ravitate to violent groups.
However, contrary to popular speculation, it's not technical skills that m=
ake engineers attractive recruits to radical groups.
Rather, the authors pose the hypothesis that "engineers have a 'mindset' t=
hat makes them a particularly good match for Islamism,"
which becomes explosive when fused by the repression and vigorous radicali=
zation triggered by the social conditions they endured in
Islamic countries.
But what is the engineer's mindset? The authors call it a mindset that inc=
lines them to take more extreme conservative and religious
positions. A past survey in the United States has already shown that the p=
roportion of engineers who declare themselves to be on the
right of the political spectrum is greater than any other disciplinary gro=
ups--such as economists, doctors, scientists, and those in
the humanities and social sciences.
The authors note that the mindset is universal.
Whether American, Canadian or Islamic, they pointed out that a disproporti=
onate share of engineers seem to have a mindset that makes
them open to the quintessential right-wing features of "monism" (why argue=
where there is one best solution) and by "simplism" (if
only people were rational, remedies would be simple).
----------------------------------------
regards,
your local EE
--
Frederick Martin McNeill
Poway, California, United States of America
mmcne...@fuzzysys.com
w00t *********************************
Machiavelli:
"When a republic is on the skids,
honorable men no longer seek high
office in it."
**************************************
Reminds me a bit of the young guy who joins a dojo, so he can seek
vengence on those who dishonoured him, only to develop a self
discipline and wisdom that transcended his original motivation.
BOfL
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| User: "kevirwin" |
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| Title: Re: Why I Am the Way I Am |
05 Feb 2008 09:38:04 PM |
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On Feb 5, 9:56=A0pm, "bigflet...@gmail.com" <bigflet...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Reminds me a bit of the young guy who joins a dojo, so he can seek
vengence on those who dishonoured him, only to develop a self
discipline and wisdom that transcended his original motivation.
BOfL
Hey, I like that..So people **can** learn and grow!!!!
K e v
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| User: "Sir Frederick" |
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| Title: Re: Why I Am the Way I Am |
05 Feb 2008 09:47:04 PM |
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On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:38:04 -0800 (PST), kevirwin <kevirwin@comcast.net> wrote:
On Feb 5, 9:56 pm, "bigflet...@gmail.com" <bigflet...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Reminds me a bit of the young guy who joins a dojo, so he can seek
vengence on those who dishonoured him, only to develop a self
discipline and wisdom that transcended his original motivation.
BOfL
Hey, I like that..So people **can** learn and grow!!!!
K e v
Unfortunately, they **can** also deteriorate!!!!
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| User: "kevirwin" |
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| Title: Re: Why I Am the Way I Am |
05 Feb 2008 10:05:08 PM |
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On Feb 5, 10:47 pm, Sir Frederick <mmcne...@fuzzysys.com> wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:38:04 -0800 (PST), kevirwin <kevir...@comcast.net> wrote:
On Feb 5, 9:56 pm, "bigflet...@gmail.com" <bigflet...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Reminds me a bit of the young guy who joins a dojo, so he can seek
vengence on those who dishonoured him, only to develop a self
discipline and wisdom that transcended his original motivation.
BOfL
Hey, I like that..So people **can** learn and grow!!!!
K e v
Unfortunately, they **can** also deteriorate!!!!
Ah gee, I was just starting to feel good and you bring me back to
reality (whatever that might be)!!!!
Deterioration - the heinous, insidious, numbing, inescapable aspect of
aging that old people don't tell you about...
I'll fix that!!!
Part I.
Aging has often been compared, philosophically and metaphorically, to
wine in bottles stored in cellars that gets better as time passes. --
Ha!-- Aging is the fruit that is left on the vines that is withering
& rotting and only waiting to fall back into the earth it came from!!!
Had to be said,
K e v
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| User: "Sir Frederick" |
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| Title: Re: Why I Am the Way I Am |
05 Feb 2008 10:32:20 PM |
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On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 20:05:08 -0800 (PST), kevirwin <kevirwin@comcast.net> wrote:
On Feb 5, 10:47 pm, Sir Frederick <mmcne...@fuzzysys.com> wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:38:04 -0800 (PST), kevirwin <kevir...@comcast.net> wrote:
On Feb 5, 9:56 pm, "bigflet...@gmail.com" <bigflet...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Reminds me a bit of the young guy who joins a dojo, so he can seek
vengence on those who dishonoured him, only to develop a self
discipline and wisdom that transcended his original motivation.
BOfL
Hey, I like that..So people **can** learn and grow!!!!
K e v
Unfortunately, they **can** also deteriorate!!!!
Ah gee, I was just starting to feel good and you bring me back to
reality (whatever that might be)!!!!
Deterioration - the heinous, insidious, numbing, inescapable aspect of
aging that old people don't tell you about...
I'll fix that!!!
Part I.
Aging has often been compared, philosophically and metaphorically, to
wine in bottles stored in cellars that gets better as time passes. --
Ha!-- Aging is the fruit that is left on the vines that is withering
& rotting and only waiting to fall back into the earth it came from!!!
Had to be said,
K e v
Deterioration may certainly be produced by the simple
(and complex) insanities of being a human animal in
a human culture, at any age.
Interesting how a "lot" of teenagers are killing their
families recently.
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| User: "kevirwin" |
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| Title: Re: Why I Am the Way I Am |
05 Feb 2008 11:00:04 PM |
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On Feb 5, 11:32 pm, Sir Frederick <mmcne...@fuzzysys.com> wrote:
Deterioration may certainly be produced by the simple
(and complex) insanities of being a human animal in
a human culture, at any age.
Interesting how a "lot" of teenagers are killing their
families recently.- Hide quoted text -
Paradoxically, the teenagers are the ones with the most to lose; an
aging parent is just killing time anyway (allow me some figurative
literary leeway).
I have found, both a lack of purpose and a lack of a sense of the
future possibilities, in my teenage daughter's friends (one does want
to be a singer) and my son's friends, who are now in the early 20's.
Not hardly enough of a sample to make any definitive statistical
analysis on, but still a personal concern. Who's gonna keep the lights
on in my old age home??
I was a baby boomer; I guess this new wave is "generation lost".
Remember that post from Robert Cohen on the suicides of those 7
teenagers in England. I was looking at the picture of the girl,
Natasha, thinking, "she's young, she's cute, she was fine when the
picture was taken; what the ***** happened??" Is adulthood that
menacing to the kids today??
It will all be over soon enough (Gee, I said that before, I'm in a
loop!!).
K e v
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