I've discovered, to my amazement, that there are two kinds of engineers, which I've labeled the "math engineers" and the "physics engineers." The math engineers are obsessed with numbers and formulas, usually very narrowly focused and unquestioning of rules they were taught. The physics engineers base their approach on the principles behind solving problems, tend to be big picture thinkers, and aren't shy about questioning standard approaches or exploring unconventional methods. The math types tend to be very liberal, while the physics types are more objectivist/libertarian/conservative in their perspective.

Agreed. There is thinking for one's self about how to identify reality, and then there is trying to individually define reality.

Well said. +1

Funny though, I had/have an engineering friend from my sailing days...he's a flaming liberal! He was good at his job but in real life...I blew him away with my simple solutions to problems we found with our boats and life on the dock.

well said! . but we have to be able to see both
the forest and the trees, individually. . like that
stupid cartoon from long ago where the dog is
running through the forest and hits a tree ...
and says, " 'Nuther tree." -- j
.

yes, it is. . I found objectivism before engineering,
so my choice of a profession was easy. . the opposite
would also have been easy, had I found engineering
first. . Rand, and some science fiction authors, are
the only folks who seem to understand engineers.
science plus life equals engineering. . simple! -- j
.

As long as our schools teach "What to think" rather than "How to think" the propagandist will have an enthusiastic audience. The problem is that everyone is afraid to use the "P" word. When a reporter chooses to influence rather than inform the line from journalist to propagandist has been crossed. It is so much easier to parrot an "authority" figure than to go to the trouble to form an opinion by analyzing the available facts. The propagandist takes advantage of the fact that many people are intellectually lazy.

"we are all bucking the system of propaganda "
Sometimes I feel like I'm blind to it, like it goes right over my head. I'm not making the toupee fallacy, saying I can always see through it. I think politicians often operate by getting people fired up about things so they partly abandon reason. Engineers don't get as emotionally fired up. It's like we're the weirdos (I am anyway) not caught up in the trees, so we see the forest.

That sounds like a good thing,,,

I'm an engineer. I hang with many engineers. In general we are all bucking the system of propaganda currently being employed, along with many of the messages being sent in it. Engineering is a lot like Objectivism, I figure.

although they take "individualism" a bit too far, ie. what sex am I today or I identify as a dog today.

An increase in individualism and a decrease in falling back on communal ideas.

What positive development do you see here.

What is propaganda? Propaganda is "information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc." or "the deliberate spreading of such information, rumors, etc." or "the particular doctrines or principles propagated by an organization or movement".

I do take issue with the last definition, to which I attribute the word "dissemination" or "marketing".

Thus, based on the first definition, the genus of propaganda should be "claim" and the differentia should be both "unproven" and "intended to influence an outcome".

To seek out propaganda is to seek out an unproven claim intended to influence an outcome. Two approaches come to mind. People do not seek out claims which are unproven qua unproven. No one cares about the convention of gremlins studying Hegel on the planet Venus. People seek out claims which are unproven believing these claims to be proven, soon-to-be proven, or to-be-proven. The approach is similar to rooting for a sports team facing a more or less equal opponent. The second is what I would call the "false prophet effect", where a person wants to believe a claim and so believes an elaborate series of falsehoods in order to maintain his views. This can be likened to the savage who chants some kind of spell in order to avoid an impending lava flow. Or to an ostrich.

Objectivism provides a structure, a method, and a basis for interacting with Western culture at the most fundamental level. Without Objectivism, the immune system of my thought process, I would be able to neither explicitly defend nor consistently integrate the philosophic and political thought to which I am exposed.

It starts out criticizing people accepting propaganda instead of thinking critically. By the end it's mourning a time when people were less individualistic and accepted the ideas of their community.

"In the past, when confronted with new or different ideas, people who did not achieve the heights of formal education had the values and traditions embedded in their communities to fall back on."

"But today, hyper-individualism, increased urbanization, the breakdown of the family, and ideological divisions have caused a decline in the formative influence of community, and reduced our access to the “common sense” that it can provide. "

I agree with the quotes, but I think they're a positive development.