pz

His friend the biomedical engineer, you mean. Another data point for the Salem hypothesis!

RufusAtticus

Well my friend, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, says that YECs are full of bullshit.

Abacus

What's the Salem hypothesis?

Jesus Tap-Dancin' Christ

Yuup, they are.

pz

It's a talk.origins thing, an observation that was made by Bruce Salem years ago. To quote a feedback post on the subject, the "Salem Hypothesis states that creationists with formal educations are more likely to be engineers than they are to be other kinds of scientists. This hypothesis is supported primarily by anecdotal evidence: a good number of creationists who post to talk.origins claim to be engineers, and creationist organizations seem to be disproportionately populated by engineers."

Abacus

As an engineer myself, I find this observation to be unsettling.

pz

Don't sweat it. It's not "engineers tend to be creationists", but "creationists with formal degrees tend to be engineers". You're not in imminent danger of unexpected conversion.

NialScorva

I've always found this idea to have merit. Consider

1. "God Complex" is nearly a job description for engineers.
2. Engineers deal with the equations that the scientists magically produce for them, encouraging a creation ex nihilo attitude towards the fundamentals of the universe.
3. Scientists get *more* useful the more education they have. Engineers get *less* useful.
4. You don't have to get exact answers, you have to get answers within your design constraints. Design constraints for popular opinion has rather permissive tolerances.


I can see where the tendancy comes from...

Note: I am an engineer, and most of my friends are engineers with MS or PhD. All said with tongue firmly in cheek.

Nic Tamzek

Boy, I've only read through a page or two of that Free Republic thread, but does anyone ever get up the gumption to show up the antievolutionists (not everyone there is) for the ignorant people they are?

Grr, not even one t.o. link posted yet.

pz

Freepers are a lost cause. They really are the very dregs of the internet -- these are people who got their education from talk radio.