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Why no scientist in ploitics?


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I don't play football or politics but I am a spectator for both.

We sometimes hear of a medical doctor moving into politics but I have never heard of any engineers doing such (since Jimmy Carter of course).

I (being an arogant science type) think it is because engineers and scientist are too smart to do that. What other reasons can you think of to exaplin why the brightest amoung us shy away from politics?

Ben

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Politics is my favorite spectator sport. thumbup1.gif AND BOY haven't we had a lot of action going on this year?! The hits just keep on coming. laugh.gif

Anyway, my first thought is that engineers are not known for their people skills. I don't mean that in a negative sense at all. I for one would much rather work with other engineers on "stuff" than work with people working on people, sucking up to them for their money and/or their votes.

I think most engineers know deep down that they are too good for that type of work. wink.gif

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Anyway, my first thought is that engineers are not known for their people skills. I don't mean that in a negative sense at all. I for one would much rather work with other engineers on "stuff" than work with people working on people, sucking up to them for their money and/or their votes.

I think that those of us who are logical thinkers and tend to be more pragmatic would not be interested in doing things just to score political points, which means that we wouldn't get very far in politics.

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[...]

We sometimes hear of a medical doctor moving into politics but I have never heard of any engineers doing such (since Jimmy Carter of course).

[...]

There are some examples in UK politics.

The (in)famous Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher read chemistry at Oxford, and was a research chemist for a plastics company. TheLabour party politician, Margaret Beckett was a metallurgist who worked as an researcher at Manchester University in the late 1960's. The now departed (in disgrace) MP Ian Gibson was a lecturer in Biology at the University of East Anglia in the UK. There are others I'm sure, but those are the three that came to mind first.

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Chancellor Angela Merkel (Germany) was a quantum physicist before going into politics.

Well, quantum politicians are not liars... they always say the truth, but only if the wavefunction is not collapsed. Who knows if it's not happening in the 5th or 6th dimension?

The dutch minister for 'Culture, Education and Science' Ronald Plasterk was a molecular genetecist.

Ton

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The dutch minister for 'Culture, Education and Science' Ronald Plasterk was a molecular genetecist.

Ton

How I envy that... our current Science minister (Canada) is a creationist. (Not that I really care what he personally believes, but he could have respectfully asked the prime minister for another job in his governement...)

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There are some examples in UK politics.

The (in)famous Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher read chemistry at Oxford, and was a research chemist for a plastics company. TheLabour party politician, Margaret Beckett was a metallurgist who worked as an researcher at Manchester University in the late 1960's. The now departed (in disgrace) MP Ian Gibson was a lecturer in Biology at the University of East Anglia in the UK. There are others I'm sure, but those are the three that came to mind first.

This is a fascinating thread. You guys are awesome. Love the fact that many of you live outside the US. Every day here is a learning experience, and not just LV.

I didn't know "The Iron Lady" (Thatcher) was a chemist. My brother is a chemical engineer - and he would do about as well as I would in politics. blink.gif

As controversial as Maggie was/is, I for one have always loved her. She and Reagan. A political marriage from heaven. Maggie had more 'nads than 99.9% of the politicians we have now in this country (USA). sad.gif

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I can't speak for other engineers, but there's one main reason I would never go into politics. The issues are too big for my comfort level. The scope of the problems politicians try to solve are much, much larger and have far more unknowns than the problems I solve as an engineer. As an engineer I always have to deal with compromises and unknowns, but I can usually get the information I need to get a feel for what those unknowns are and make an informed decision. Decisions politicians make have so many far reaching consequences there's simply no way to get a handle on the unknowns. Even the "known" consequences often hotly debated with no clear answer. Politicians either have to delude themselves into believing they fully understand the tradeoffs or they must admit they are making an uninformed decision. Thanks, but I'll pass.

Regarding Margaret Thatcher, I was watching a television show about the British SAS and the hostage rescue training they do in their kill house. Sometimes political dignitaries would come observe training exercises. Apparently Thatcher insisted on playing the role of the hostage during one exercise (note they train with live ammo) and sat in a chair with several targets around her. The SAS broke into the room and amidst a barrage gunfire and noise eliminated all the targets. When the few seconds of chaos were over, Thatcher was still sitting in her chair looking very dignified while her aide cowered on the floor. She looked at him and said, "Get off the floor <name>, you're embarrassing me."

Iron Lady indeed.

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Here are a few more:

  • Benjamin Franklin
  • Chaim Weizmann - Israel's first president and a proper chemist
  • Ephraim Katzir - Israel's fourth president - a biophysicist
  • Yuval Neeman (no relation to me) - physicist (one of the discoverers of Hadrons) and science minister.
  • Daniel Hershkovitz - A mathematician (he was the dean of the math department in the Israeli eqivalent of MIT) and the current science minister.

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We need more musicians and models in politics smile.gif

Comedians and wrestlers also work out great (and I'm not even mentioning Reagan, Schwarzenegger or Clint Eastwood).

Chaim Weizmann - Israel's first president and a proper chemist

Here's an interesting tidbit I forgot to mention - originally, the job was offered to Albert Einstein (and you really can't get much more scientific than that), but he turned it down.

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There is IQ and EQ difference. Maybe engineers and scientists have high IQ, but not necessary high on EQ. Part of IQ are born with, but EQ is trained in life. Enginners/Scientists don't have time to train their EQ which is necessary for politics and people skills, they are just happy to play around with their high IQ, maybe? :-)

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13 rep points awarded in 18 posts? Not a sniff of LV in sight.blink.gif

*sigh* for the last time - rep points are arbitrary and are awarded for whatever tickles the reader's fancy. It's about how much posts are appreciated by the community, irrespective of the topic. If it's for technical content, great. If it's for something amusing, great. If it's for a philisophical comment, great. If it's for a picture of a cat, great. Got it? Great.

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There is IQ and EQ difference. Maybe engineers and scientists have high IQ, but not necessary high on EQ. Part of IQ are born with, but EQ is trained in life. Enginners/Scientists don't have time to train their EQ which is necessary for politics and people skills, they are just happy to play around with their high IQ, maybe? :-)

What is EQ ?

To all,

Lots of good ideas there. I'll resist adding my thought to avoid fouling the water.

Re: Musician and comeidans I'm n the same page as Socrates as described by Plato in The Republic.

Ben

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