Comment by btown
10 hours ago
Art and engineering are both constrained optimization problems - at their core, both involve transforming a loosely defined aesthetic desire into a repeatable methodology!
And if we can call ourselves software engineers, where our day-to-day (mostly) involves less calculus and more creative interpretation of loose ideas, in the context of a corpus of historical texts that we literally call "libraries" - are we not artists and art historians?
We're far closer to Jimi than Roger, in many ways. Pots and kettles :)
We should not call ourselves engineers - it's a massive insult to actual professional engineers.
Speak for yourself, some of us value and incorporate both science and methodology into our craft, and adhere to a system of ethics.
That's great, but it doesn't make you or any of us engineers.
Just because I drive my car with immense focus, make precision shifts, and hit the apex of all of my turns when getting onto and off of the freeway doesn't make me a race car driver.
Engineers don't just feel good vibes about science and mix it into their work. It is the core of their work.
Simply having a methodology absolutely is not sufficient for being an engineer.
And great, you have an arbitrary system of ethics, like everyone does I imagine. But no one holds you to these ethics.
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