gwern comments on Are Your Enemies Innately Evil? - Less Wrong

88 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 26 June 2007 09:13PM

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Comment author: simplicio 16 August 2010 12:09:10AM 23 points [-]

To repeat fairly standard speculation in this regard, engineers aren't taught critical thinking and are taught to not tolerate uncertainty. This is not a good combination.

Full disclosure: I am (almost) an engineer.

I don't think that's quite correct (uncertainty is a huge concern of engineers), although it's getting there. I would speculate as follows:

  • We know a lot of science, but it's mostly divorced from its epistemic basis. We don't know how we know.
  • We have just enough "science cred" to feel entitled to have opinions on any & all scientific issues, but are probably not actually educated outside a small area.
Comment author: NancyLebovitz 16 August 2010 08:15:57AM 3 points [-]

Something I've wondered about in re the high proportion of engineers among suicide bombers-- I'd have thought that engineers would be last people in the world to think that you can improve things by giving them a good hard kick. Any theories about what I'm missing?

Comment author: Mitchell_Porter 16 August 2010 08:36:31AM 21 points [-]

It's not that Muslim engineers have a special tendency to become jihadis. But engineers do stuff. They solve problems, they act. So when an engineer does join the jihad, they won't be half-hearted about it, and they'll probably be good at it. And in this regard, the jihad is exactly the same as all modern war: educated people who know something of physics and problem-solving always play a large role. That's my theory.

Comment author: gwern 16 August 2010 09:09:37AM 5 points [-]

http://www.slate.com/id/2240157

Another possible explanation would be that engineers possess technical skills and architectural know-how that makes them attractive recruits for terrorist organizations. But the recent study found that engineers are just as likely to hold leadership roles within these organizations as they are to be working hands-on with explosives. In any case, their technical expertise may not be that useful, since most of the methods employed in terrorist attacks are rudimentary. It's true that eight of the 25 hijackers on 9/11 were engineers, but it was their experience with box cutters and flight school, not fancy degrees, that counted in the end.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 16 August 2010 02:20:19PM 5 points [-]

And if someone is good at making bombs (which is the role I would have expected for engineers) that's precisely the sort of person a terrorist organization wouldn't want to die.

I think.

One thing I've noticed is that everyone (ok, some huge proportion of people) thinks they're an expert on how to do effective terrorism.

Comment author: gwern 16 August 2010 02:52:45PM *  9 points [-]

Guilty as charged:

Gomen!

Comment author: Ender 18 June 2012 03:42:40PM 6 points [-]

Making perfect, evil plots can be a great conversation starter.

Comment author: gwern 26 May 2011 05:15:25PM 2 points [-]

More coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12FOB-IdeaLab-t.html

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