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- Newsgroups: alt.philosophy.objectivism
- Path: sparky!uunet!world!rjk
- From: rjk@world.std.com (robert j kolker)
- Subject: Re: Deliberate Ignorance
- Message-ID: <C1GuHr.BHB@world.std.com>
- Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
- References: <C1FyKE.FqH@darkside.osrhe.uoknor.edu>
- Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 14:49:02 GMT
- Lines: 33
-
- In that last 50 years the bulk of Engineering has been electrical and
- electronic engineering. Virtually all of this, especially the transistor
- based technology is the offspring of Quantum ElectroDynamics. (a Science).
-
- Viturally all computer hardware engineering flows from the Tunelling
- Effect, an phenomon that is known only through an understanding of QED.
-
- Having said this, I readily agree that muuch of the mechanical technology,
- and road construction rested more on empirical engineering than cutting
- edge science. However new materials again requires X-ray diffraction
- techniques and the quantum theory of the solid state for understanding and
- progress. I maintain that JBuckminsterFullerine is as much a product of
- science as technology.
-
- The engineer of the 1990's is a different sort of worker than his
- counterpart of a century ago. The modern engineer must be trained in
- mainline physics (at least its applicable parts) and fairly heavy
- mathematics. This is not true of the engineer (or mechanics as they were
- called then) of last century. The engineers who assisted Charles Babbage
- to put together Difference Engine 1 were relatively less educated
- (although fully as talented and clever) than their modern counterparts.
-
- Annent you evaluation of logic.: Without means of drawing inferences, your
- head would be stuffed full of zillion of unrelated facts, and you still
- wouldn't have a clue. With logic, you need to remember just a few facts,
- a few principles and some rules of inference and induction and away you go.
-
- Conan the Libertarian
-
-
- --
- "If you can't love the Constitution, then at least hate the Government"
-
-