RE: https://hachyderm.io/@datarama/117439540102075744
Back in university when I was doing my CS degree, I was also studying philosophy, particularly German philosophers. I feel that the over-emphasis on STEM over the last 30 years has robbed our society of the intellectual traditions that kept us human.
@suzannealdrich I told my kids that I have been working my entire adult life to enable them to go to college with an open mind, and with "will this pay my rent" far lower in the priorty list than "do I want to learn this?"
That's the thing.... society should enable you to go to college to be something with a terrible financial future, like poetry. And not even that, a BAD poet.
I want my kids to be able to be bad poets and still have a safe and comfortable place to live, healthcare, even the ability to support their own kids.... and maybe the ability to change their minds and go back to college to be a dentist or tradeschool to be an electrician or fuck... go back and get a masters in poetry.
There are enough of us people that *decided* to become nerdy step people to support the economy; we lose our humanity if we pressure everyone to just work and make money.
@suzannealdrich Here in Santa Cruz there is a fairly strong STEM movement up at the university (UC Santa Cruz). However, at least among the astronomy/astrophysics/astrobiology profs, there seems to be an understanding that liberal arts are very important because they give people the tools they need in order to clearly convey and promote their ideas.
(Plus it is a lot of fun when chatting about the latest science to slip in a comment from Thomas Aquinas - and get a cogent response in return.)
@suzannealdrich I grew up with a bent toward science. My father was a chemistry professor, and I played with electricity and electronics from an early age. But I ended up majoring in English in college. I was determined to learn in college, not to focus on a career. Studying literature taught me how to learn.
It turns out that expressing your thoughts well in English is excellent preparation for expressing your thoughts well in code, also.
@suzannealdrich I had a dual undergrad major in CS and poly sci, and when in grad school especially I made an effor to hang around students in other fields and find out what they were doing.
I have never once regretted not having been more narrowly focused.