Henry Farrel writes in the Washington Post that there's a group of people which appears to be highly prone to violent extremism - engineers - who are nine times more likely to be terrorists as you would expect by chance. In a forthcoming book, "Engineers of Jihad," published by Princeton University Press, Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog provide a new theory for why it is that engineers seem unusually prone to become involved in terrorist organizations. Gambetta and Hertog find strongly suggestive evidence that engineers are more likely to become terrorists because of the way that they think about the world. Survey data indicates that engineering faculty at universities are far more likely to be conservative than people with other degrees, and far more likely to be religious. They are seven times as likely to be both religious and conservative as social scientists. Gambetta and Hertog speculate that engineers combine these political predilections with a marked preference towards finding clearcut answers. This preference has affinities with the clear answer that radical Islamist groups propose for dealing with the complexities of modernity: Get rid of it.
Gambetta and Hertog suggest that this mindset combines with frustrated expectations in many Middle Eastern and North African countries, and among many migrant populations, where people with engineering backgrounds have difficulty in realizing their ambitions for good and socially valued jobs. This explains why there are relatively few radical Islamists with engineering backgrounds in Saudi Arabia (where they can easily find good employment) and why engineers were more prone to become left-wing radicals in Turkey and Iran.
Some people might argue that terrorist groups want to recruit engineers because engineers have valuable technical skills that might be helpful, such as in making bombs. This seems plausible – but it doesn't seem to be true. Terrorist organizations don't seem to recruit people because of their technical skills, but because they seem trustworthy and they don't actually need many people with engineering skills. "Bomb-making and the technical stuff that is done in most groups is performed by very few people, so you don't need, if you have a large group, 40 or 50 percent engineers," says Hertog. "You just need a few guys to put together the bombs. So the scale of the overrepresentation, especially in the larger groups is not easily explained."
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by turgid on Friday November 27 2015, @08:04PM
One might consider that engineer/scientist types would be more likely to employ critical thought than the average person, and therefore be less inclined to have an absolute, unwavering belief in the existence of a god and an afterlife. Given that suicide bombers are promised eternity in paradise for their actions, it doesn't follow that engineer/scientist types would be more likely to kill themselves for such reasons. Unless they were nihilists or suicidally depressed.
Having said that, though, in the world of Software Engineering there is a significant minority of people with religious beliefs directly out of phase with the evidence presented by the universe i.e. Jehovah''s Witnesses, conservative Muslims, conservative Jews, apocalyptic Christians...
The other thing I can't quite understand is the medics who have gone to support Daesh... There have been many cases where British-trained doctors have gone to help the people causing misery and carnage.
There are a lot of religious people about who seem to think that god wants and likes suffering. Mother Theresa of Calcutta was a prime example. Christopher Hitchens wrote a good book on the subject.
People involved in the physical sciences tend to have a more rational and materialistic view of the universe (by definition). You can detach yourself from that somewhat if you're an Engineer.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2015, @08:28PM
Critical thinking has led many to believing in god. Critical thinking is like a car. When wanting to go somewhere, using it is not enough. You have to be going the right direction too.
(Score: 3, Informative) by turgid on Friday November 27 2015, @08:35PM
Touche. In itself, it's not enough. You have to be in possession of facts as well, and that implies access to good information.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:46AM
Absolutely. Thinking is a simple but difficult process.
Necessary and sufficient information with precise, complete critical thought ought to be enough. Yet there is no meaningful way to be sure. I like to believe early scientists invented empiricism not out of some pseudo-nihilism but out of desiring to verify if their thinking was good enough to be effective in reality. Doesn't hurt that it's fun.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2015, @08:50PM
, in the world of Software Engineering
Software engineering is not engineering. It's what computer programmers call themselves when they are ashamed of what they do and want to make their jobs sound better.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by turgid on Friday November 27 2015, @08:54PM
Right on the money. I've been in the world of employment for 20 years now, in some very large and respected companies, and I've only really seen proper Engineering applied to software in one place by a very small number of very good people. Everything else has just been throwing mud at walls until some of it sticks.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2015, @10:10PM
engineering is when if you fuck up your company gets sued or those responsible go to prison
ever seen a building with a EULA with a disclaimer on it?
(Score: 2) by bziman on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:13AM
That's funny. I've been a software engineer for almost twenty years. I have an advanced degree from an ABET certified engineering program. And honestly, I wish I were "just a programmer". I was that when I was a kid, before I went to college and became an engineer. Now I spend most of my time gathering requirements, writing designs, and working out test methodologies. The only reason I'm the one who also happens to type up the code, is because it isn't worth paying another employee to do the last, trivial ten percent of the work.
I'm sure there are plenty of programmers who aren't software engineers, just like there are plenty of mechanics who aren't mechanical engineers. But you don't see mechanics designing engines from scratch, and real enterprise software is written by real engineers, at least if you want it to be verifiably correct.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday November 27 2015, @09:48PM
Agreed. Engineer isn't the only word to be cheapened in recent decades. Today, almost everyone is a "technician". In our plant, we have "molding techs" and "maintenance techs" and "mold techs" (not to be confused with the previously mentioned molding techs). I fully expect to meet a deck tech one day soon, who mops the floors. Tech, tech, tech, tech - I get tired of the bullshit. When I want a grease monkey, I need a grease monkey. When a need a mold operator, I need an operator. When I need someone to service the molds, I really want a tooling man, aka, a machinist, but I'll often times settle for a tool setter. Fuck a whole bunch of "techs".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:56AM
An engineer is someone that makes siege engines to breach castles.
A technician is someone that works with technology.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday November 27 2015, @10:06PM
IANASE (I am not a software engineer) but I believe they exist. I would consider a software engineer to be one who plans out large software projects and orchestrates their creation. Much like designing a simple mechanical device doesn't make you a mechanical engineer, writing some code doesn't make you a software engineer.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by tibman on Saturday November 28 2015, @12:30AM
I call myself a Software Engineer because it bothers "real" engineers so much : P
To muggles i just tell them i write code all day (and mime a typing motion). But maybe i should change my ways (and linkedin job title). Maybe Hacker would be a better job title. Then i can bash on all the "real" engineers who call themselves hackers. Because they are just stealing the title from "real" programmers.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2015, @11:19PM
> One might consider that engineer/scientist types would be more likely to employ critical thought than the average person,
> and therefore be less inclined to have an absolute, unwavering belief in the existence of a god and an afterlife.
Both Einstein and Richard Feynman believed in God.
> There have been many cases where British-trained doctors have gone to help the people causing misery and carnage.
The US military has a ton of doctors to support the troops who go out and kill people. Those doctors think the cause is worth it. Why would daesh be different?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @12:09AM
Because they decapitate and/or boil people alive to send messages.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday November 28 2015, @12:15PM
Einstein did not believe in the literal existence of a God. It's well documented. I've made up my own mind. I couldn't care less what Einstein or Feynmann or Hawking or Heisenberg believe or believe. I'm not claiming to be as intelligent as any of them, but I have a brain and try my hardest to use it.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:45PM
Doctors and medics don't give a shit about your beliefs or which "side" you're on or fighting for, all they care about is healing people. All people are equal to medicine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @02:48PM
Try again.