hahan

And of you think programming is high status, high paying, highly influential, why we import immigrants to do that ? You think the talent pool of some hundred million American people with most entensive education system is insufficient ?

You're saying that software engineers are in the role because they have no other option? No upper-middle-class people in the position? What are you talking about?

There are enthusiastic people who start with enthusiasm and can keep that enthusiasm. Most begin with practical concerns. And most of those who don't begin with stay with. he

And yes, rich people, upper echelon, people of means are rare in the industry

While I agree with the early days female programmers history thing, I'd like to point one thing you've neglected, that programming work 60 yrs ago is not comparable or even relevant to that of today. They are of different nature. What's farther from the reality is , back those days programming was not particularly losing paying or low status, I'd say it was elite. After all, most people then had no access to tertiary education, let alone computers.

Call me cynical but I found it amusing that no one points out the fact that engineering work is laborious and dry to say the least for most people. That's the reason why there are so few people who have other options, females, upper middle class people, people of means, in the scene. There are so many lowish paid low status unsought for sectors where majority workers are male, say janitors in Universities, why I never see any discussions on that bias ?

probably not. Even it is, if the cost of breaking laws is dwarfed by the revenue, i guess it's perfectly rational to do so.

Most brilliant. These people can conjuring up a fancy spy story while having no idea how a chip is made at all. And is very amusing to see mass acceptance.

because almost all the funds are doing business using money from other people. having highly sophisticated formula, models,algorithms and Ph.D from top universities is intimidatingly convincing to investors to put money in. on the other hand, investors, most being institutional, who are hardly convinced either, nevertheless would invest. after all, it's not their money. they just need some justification. it's business, rather than arts or science.

i'm sure that if the Greeks have the potential of killing as many people and as cruelly as the German do, they would be tolerated and excused, whatever they have done. It just happens that Greece is a small and weak nation that everybody can safely point a finger at and accuse them of every problem there is. it does not just happens to the Greek, but to all the disadvantaged.whenever there's a crisis, some group would be targeted. they caused it because they are lazy, they're indulgent, they're irresponsible, they are weak, they're immoral,etc.be it women, colored, the poor,the illiterate, Jews, you name it.

it's not at all anything moral. it's business. the french and german banks lent to Greece not out of charity, but of profit, a profit earn at the risk of insolvency. Now the Greeks can pay back, that is, the french and german banks failed their business. if the EU is to bail out, it's bailing out the BIG BANKS, not the Greek People. Clear ? Business is business. why the banks would do this risky business, because their principle amount and the interest earned are guaranteed by EU. the situation now is that if the banks win, they have it all; if the banks lose, the eu people pay for them. if you cant help blaming someone, blame the BANKS and their ruthless risk taking.

actually the amazing thing is that mathematics can be useful. from its beginning, mathematics is not merely empirical study of everyday problems. number is believed sacred and having divine implications and some special numbers worshiped across civilizations, Greeks included. In early days, some properties of number are not taken for granted as we do today. the duality of mathematics though, most mathematician don't have practical concerns in their minds. and this is reflected in the mathematics education. Arnold has advocated for long the intuitive teaching which basically is to introduce the ideas of mathematics using concrete tangible and often practical examples. However, in today's textbooks of all level, the Bourbaki style is still dominant.