30 years ago when I started heading down the computer science path, nothing about it seemed evil.
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2024
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Honestly at this point in my software career (~10 years), it's not evil per se, but I don't feel great about essentially existing to help rich people (VCs, PE, etc.) get richer. But I suppose that's a problem that isn't limited to IT.
Certainly not limited to IT. One of my professors from many years was an aerospace engineer^1^. He recounts to us the time that he busted his ass on some design for a long time and managed to make some huge cost savings. And then after it was done he realized that all he really did with his extra hard work was help some executives and stockholders get a bit richer. Not long after that he switched to education.
^1^Not in the defense industry
I kiss ass so I can get rich while my boss gets richer off me. Perhaps I'll work harder with a gun in my back for a bowl of rice a day.
Computer science is no more evil than most of the industries on the chart; they all offer ethical jobs as well, they just tend not to pay as well as the evil ones
I feel like I mostly got away with it without being evil thus far. I ended up working for a foundation and the team I'm in builds internet access (and layer 2 transport) for institutions of higher education. But maybe network engineering isn't really the typical outcome, most of my friends became developers.
Did you try any of these and not like it? Yes -> geology
Should be a subbranch of "ambivalent towards safety" - How do you like to endanger yourself -> Blowing things up = Chem Eng or Hit things with hammers = Geology
Economics is STEM???
Economics is science but with resources.
Economics is like ecology for the financial / resource world.
It falls into both Science and Math
Not only that, but it apparently doesn't even involve math anymore!
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accurate, and for the record, EPA, you can take my DCM wash bottle out of my DEAD DEGREASED HANDS
Like, so what if we store our tBuLi with other low-flash point flammables? And pyrophoric oxidizers? In the same bin? That's stuck in a block of ice in the 30-year-old freezer because it hasn't ever been de-iced?
What if the power goes out for a long period of time and the tBuLi goes for a swim? Or we say you have to de-ice the freezer?
Haha sounds crazy. And, I wouldn't have to do the shitty quench before disposal. Or work on that project anymore.
Because you're injured or because PI fires you?
Haha, yeah :)
:|
:)
:|
Oh, while you're here, does this still smell like DCM? I can't tell if I rotavapped it all off and the NMR tubes all need aqua regia (sorry my b).
Aqua regia isn't even that scary. Try pipetting pure bromine while it shoots itself out from constantly evaporating
Aqua regia ain't no piranha, and also ain't the most concerning thing in my post lol.
Ah bromine. Super dense, low MW, and low bp, all making dosing accurate amounts a heroic feat. If you store your bromine cold, you can precool the pipette by sucking up and spitting out a few times before transfering, which helps cut down the vapor.
Like, so what if we store our tBuLi with other low-flash point flammables? And pyrophoric oxidizers? In the same bin? That's stuck in a block of ice because in the 30-year-old freezer because it hasn't ever been de-iced?
That's just bad management and you shouldn't store tBuLi that long anyway because it'll decompose. You shouldn't put it in freezer either
Oh, while you're here, does this still smell like DCM? I can't tell if I rotavapped it all off and the NMR tubes all need aqua regia (sorry my b).
just put it on high vacuum
What are you working with that requires aqua regia to clean NMR tubes? I've only had to use piranha once in a decade, while cleaning things that acetone, DCM, and basic ethanol won't touch, and this was just after moving to another lab
That's just bad management / just put it on high vacuum
Yes. The whole thing is satirizing the "Safety -> Against" bit. Each piece, though exaggerated for effect, has a basis in something I've seen over the years.
Regarding NMR tubes though, the answer in my old group was precious metal complexes, which have a tendency to mirror out once they've done their bit. Or just existed for too long; a lot of them were touchy. The mirror tends to resist solvents and scrubbing. Nitric acid alone sometimes was enough to remove it depending on the metal, but often not. At some point the cost, effort, and danger are all supposed to outweigh just binning the lot and buying new tubes, but my PI was allergic to buying new things.
"Frickin' beautiful."
There could be one more to differentiate engineers from architects. Do you like to solve problems (engineer) or create them (architect)? Fun flowchart!
After indirect
Do you want to feel like you are in a secret society? Yes -> actuarial sciences
That is literally the path I took to become an Env. Scientist
Ah, a fellow poor with no hope. How goes it!?
You know it’s a complete and proper list because it excludes that pseudo-science Geology.