/sci/ - Science & Math

>>7069420
>Has /sci/ ever thought about this?

Yes, I have a flexible enough moral to justify every single one of my actions. Plus, I don't give a shit.

>>7069420
You can't decide your future. Do what you enjoy, and along the way work on improving things for everyone.

Similar thoughts plague me constantly. I plan on starting up a chapter of Engineers Without Borders at my university. Hopefully I can keep doing that every summer while I work as a cc prof.

I'll address a few things here:

>you've probably had a very good education. If you've had a very good education, you were probably born into privilege, probably in the socioeconomic and intellectual flavors, if not both, or including others.

Actually, I am an outlier. Neither of my parents received a college education and I came from a family with a combined wealth much lower than a single parent of one of yours alone. Statistically, I should be working at a minimum wage job with just a high school education.

My background upbringing was so poor I never heard of universities Michigan, Cornell, Duke, Princeton, USC, UCLA, etc. I thought a local unranked private school was the equivalent of Harvard.

Somehow, I managed to get into a good state school, do research, publish a paper, learn about the aforementioned universities during the process, land really good letters of recommendation and gained acceptance to a top 20 university--in the world--for my field.

Know what else I also got? A stellar job making more than 99% of the people coming out of my school. What did I do? I took the job and instantly moved from poor/food stamp class to upper middle class. Now what am I doing? I'm in the process of re-applying to graduate schools and am aiming higher than the one I got into. I have a solid chance of getting into an elite university (Ivy) due to the fit of their program and my background.

I'm like the 1% success story in this country. I basically grew up in the most redneck region of the US you could think of and have thrived.

What's funny is that most people that meet me assume I came from an upper middle class family due to my intelligence/ability.

I did not. I am reminded of that whenever I go back to my hometown (which I am not ashamed of btw).

In my area of land "I'm fixin' to", "walmart", "high school football games" and "y'all" are the regular vernacular.

>>7069446
So much for socioeconomic privilege. Now what makes you think you do not possess intellectual privilege? It's difficult to see what could have raised you from such humble origins if not that other than sheer luck, which seems implausible.

Not denying that you worked hard or that your accomplishments aren't commendable.

>muh privilege
It boggles my mind that this is something that people let bother them. I dunno about you guys, but I am damn glad that I was raised with non-shitty parents that could actually raise me properly and give me a good education. Seems like a white guilt thing.

Oh. Em. Gee. You guys are such faggots. Go back to tumblr, all of you.

>>7069454
So I should guzzle the martinis and take the lavish Pacific vacations that my stable, Suburban household enabled me and not realize that these circumstances were, at least in part, enabled by the fat taken from the hands of the migrant farm workers, indigenous peoples, sweatshop workers, and racial minorities of the world? That seems unfair.

>>7069463
Of course you should recognize it, and be glad that you aren't them.

>b-but it's not fair
Well what the flying fuck can you do about it? Hint: Nothing. Life has way too many problems to be worrying about strangers you'll never meet.

>>7069463
Life is unfair. Why worry about inevitable occurrences that never involved you in the first place? Guilt should never be the basis for making life choices, especially when that guilt is psychologically misplaced.

Also, exploitation of the poor is not nearly as common as you think it is.

>>7069467
>exploitation of the poor is not nearly as common as you think it is.
Not him, but how do you think our entire economic system works exactly? All these goods get made somewhere. You don't think those workers actually have reasonable working conditions, pay or anything along those lines do you?

>>7069454

those poor disenfranchised minorities

all us privileged crackers should give all our hard earned money to jamal to spend on crack and gold teeth

>>7069471
>You don't think those workers actually have reasonable working conditions, pay or anything along those lines do you?
Compared to what exactly? Working in a sweatshop or a dangerous mine sucks, but did you ever think about why these people choose to work there? It's because the alternative, subsistence farming, is much much worse.

>>7069473
You're already doing that and much more :^)

>>7069474
Uh, how does that magically not make it exploitation? Just because it could be worse doesn't mean that what they get now is reasonable.

>>7069476
Could you just do everyone a favour and set your name to Jewbag McMarx?

>>7069482
You don't have to be a marxist to realize that most people in the world have shitty lives.

>>7069476
I don't see how a net improvement in their situation is exploitation. The implication was that rich people are rich because they somehow stole resources from poor people. But in reality, this kind of economy benefits both parties and is voluntary.

>>7069486
Depends who you compare them to.

>>7069476

beggars can't be choosers

but in this case the beggars aren't even being choosers, third worlders are grateful for those sweatshops, they would starve without the sweatshops employing them

the only people who hate sweatshops are privileged rich liberals that cannot comprehend anything outside their bubble, the fact that they would dislike working in sweatshops but others may be grateful for them is impossible for them to comprehend

>>7069494
This x 1000000

>lets go back to pre-agricultural societies where a full 20% of people were murdered for reasons.

>in class
>talking to sum girls before class
>topic of terrible registration and horrendously impacted classes arrises
>some essential core lower division classes have a wait list of over 90 students
>both of them are ethnic
>they explain how they get early registration every quarter because they are ethnic
>one of them says it's okay that I don't get early registration because I am a white male and will have plenty more advantages in all aspects of life
>they spend most of the class texting

My freind who is in a women's studies class says by definition I'm a sexist by default because I am a white male. Also a racist because the definition of a racist is being someone in the controlling societal group or something Idc


I mean I'm a open minded guy but like..

I'm just a guy.

>>7069489
How are you defining exploitation here exactly? The implication is that they are unfairly being compensated for their work. Would you agree with that and does that not qualify as exploitation?

>But in reality, this kind of economy benefits both parties and is voluntary.
It's not really voluntary considering that governments are typically heavily involved. However as you said, both parties are benefited although one obviously is benefited much more than another.

If everyone in the world was a genuine and good hearted human with good intentions there would be no tragedy not any problems in the world. Greed really fucks things up a lot. The only possible disasters would be caused by nature (hurricanes and shit)
Really every other atrocity on this earth besides natural causes is done by other humans who had a choice and decision before they did something wrong.

>>7069502
Unfair treatment for profit. And if you look at the post that I was replying to, the claim was that the rich "took fat" from the hands of the poor. But nothing is taken and in fact the resources are useless without capital to make use of it.

>Would you agree with that and does that not qualify as exploitation?
No I would not. The compensation at a sweatshop is determined by supply and demand, not by evil rich men in top hats.

>>7069452
What you said makes sense. Both of my parents are fairly intelligent, they just never applied themselves academically. I've heard many stories about how intelligent my great-grandfather was though (never had a chance to meet him). He lacked a formalized education but was apparently exceptionally bright in his trade. Based on the anecdotes I hear about him, the way he spoke and what he said it does sound like it was true.

I think most of it is a byproduct of where we grew up. The town I grew up in was rooted in good wage trade jobs that have since moved overseas. These sort of jobs no longer exist and have been replaced with a wasteland of min. wages ones. People here are rooted in tradition and education isn't that valued. Most women after HS marry, have children and settle down with their high school sweethearts.

If I told any of them the type of colleges I got accepted to/applying to they wouldn't have ever heard of them. They are very simple people. In some regards, I like that simplicity and will always be rooted in it/be humbled by it.

>>7069506
>Implying humans have free will

>>7069506
Hurr durr why can't everyone be 100% selfless. Well those people don't pass on many copies of their genes and so here we are.

>>7069502
Look, you seem to think that because some people are poor and others are rich that can only imply exploitation of the former by the latter.
This is basically untrue, as even with identical start conditions the rules of free exchange of capital for goods and services lead naturally to some people outperforming others. As an example throw your eye to a game like warcraft 3; identical start conditions but someone always wins because of either luck or skill - no exploitation.

>>7069420
I know a solution!

Let's hire a bunch of government bureaucrats, who will self regulate themselves, to take money from me and people like me, at gunpoint!

Then, we can use this money, which has been taken at gunpoint, to pay for things, above the standard price, that we might think is a good idea because we know what to do with peoples money better then the people do.

We will hire public labor union members who will forcibly pay dues to union bosses who will funnel that money into progressive politicians' campaign funds so they can win elections and hire more public union workers so that labor bosses can get even more money!

This will finally achieve social justice for the poor underprivileged masses.

>>7069511
>identical start conditions
remember that time the british empire systematically dismantled the artisan crafts that formed the lifeblood of indias economy and forced them to survive on selling cotton and tea to feed mercantilism?

eh probably not a big deal nvm

>>7069515
I never said identical start conditions exist irl only that even in an artificial environment with identical start conditions someone wins.

Key word being -even-.

That said in principle India had the opportunity to go and fuck up the british empire before their economy was dismantled. Sucks to be them.

>>7069511


>social Darwinism

Our biological instincts haven't evolved with our technological advances. We are intelligent enough to recognize our own barbarism yet we cannot override it.
we think like humans yet when called for under the circumstances will become animals. I really feel "survival of the fittest" is an outdated biological dogma that has got us so far yet now hinders further progression.

>>7069420
>Parents (and/or grandparents) work to the bone to make sure you grew up in a safe environment and were educated
>Child response:
>FUCK YOU! WHY WASN'T I RAPED AS A CHILD? WHY DIDN'T I GET AN LIMB AMPUTATED OFF FROM A PREVENTABLE CHILDHOOD DISEASE? WHY DIDN'T I GET ADDICTED TO HEROINE AS AN INFANT? WHY DID YOU MAKE ME LITERATE LET ALONE EDUCATED? WHY WEREN'T MY TEETH KNOCKED OUT IN NUMEROUS FIGHTS TO THE DEATH? OH GOD, THIS PRIVILEGE! IT WON'T WASH OFF!!!

Privilege is literally just 21st century communism: If someone better get ahead of another then is the better person's fault! His privileges to get ahead must be removed to stop people from not all being the same!

>>7069520
You seem to misunderstand.

I don't really like that this is the case and honestly I'm quite empathetic to the plight of poors, having myself been without a home for a few (admittedly brief) periods in adolescence.

Hell, it's pretty annoying that like 1% of people own 50% of the stuff and I think if we still lived in a tribe or small village a lot of those people would find themselves killed for not sharing it around one way or another.

But, that all said, I don't see it as avoidable at all without making things worse and most people who get worked up about it either have no plausible alternative or don't see how terrible they would be if realised.

>we think like humans yet when called for under the circumstances will become animals.
we are animals. always. sry m80
I don't think we should idolize the survival of the fittest whatever but.. Some people will always get a raw deal, unfortunately.

>>7069420
I'm more privileged than people born in fucking Africa but for my nation of residence I am of utterly average means, and I see no reason to owe anyone in the world anything except my parents who didn't fuck me up too bad. There is no objective reason for me to seek to make a positive impact on anything, but in any case I try to at least not to have a net negative impact on things, since I figure that's pretty fair. I'm not self sacrificing enough to care about improving anything but I'm not selfish enough to want to make it worse.

>>7069420
Go ahead and make software.

But.

My suggestion is that you spend some time developing some software that will help underprivileged intellectuals move up the social ladder. Make it free and open-source. The program can focus on whatever you think would be valuable to have that can be delivered electronically and is usually pretty expensive.

>>7069420
>What do you do about it?
Make money, donate it later.

>>7069420
As someone who kind of got the short end of the stick in a lot of ways and isn't very privileged, at least as far as the genetic lottery goes, I feel that life is just random and sometimes bad shit happens to good people. It's life.

I say live a happy life, don't feel guilty for what you have. You don't owe the less privileged anything though if you want to extend your kindness that's okay, just don't feel like you're obligated. Do what's best for you and your family but my only advice is to try to avoid stepping on other people to do it... though this may be inevitable to an extent.

>>7069420
Yes, but instead of failing to capitalize on my lucky situation, I'm leveraging that fact and trying to make even more money than I was born into.

My morality is very nebulous. Luckily, some of the things that bring me pleasure in this life are also good for making money with.

>>7069420
>If you're reading /sci/, you've probably had a very good education. If you've had a very good education, you were probably born into privilege, probably in the socioeconomic and intellectual flavors, if not both, or including others.

No. I'm poor as fuck, went to a CC and am in the process of transferring to a CSU in CA. I live with my single mom who makes 30k a year and 4 sibblings. I've never received an expensive gift or brought something expensive. I'm 23 and don't have a car or a cellphone. We don't have cable in my house too.

I am in /sci/ because I like science/technology.

>>7069567
My single mom is unemployed.

Lucky fucker.

>>7069567
>probably

>>7069567
if you're transferring to the CSU, please for god's sake drop the /sci/ degree and get an accounting degree unless you're going to a poly school in pomona or SLO

>>7069584
youre kind of a dick

>>7069584

is CSU reputation really that fucking bad?

>>7069590
I speak the truth.
>>7069591
Yes. You're limited to basically teaching high school if you study a pure subject (math/physics/chemistry/biology) and engineering/computer science reputations are bad outside of the Cal Poly's and SJSU. I mean you can crank out a CS degree from whatever school, but it's an impacted major and you'll spend another year than necessary trying to get the classes you need.

If you don't get into Cal Poly's or SJSU, it's really pointless to study STEM. I know a number of chicano Cal StateLA mechanical engineers who took 6-7 years to get their bachelors, and they're only employed because most state governments require diversity requirements for bidding contracts. They're talentless hacks otherwise.

CSU's are remarkably good with their accounting programs because accounting isn't taught at any of the UC's with any depth.

>>7069602
I hear San Jose State University is right there along Stanford in terms of recruiting. Guess due to the proximity of the companies in that area.

>>7069602

I can't say you are wrong. It does make me really sad though. I go to a small, baby csu.
It feels really bad when I get a great grade on an exam knowing that it is for naught.

>>7069420
I need an introduction to eda, eda fresh pain. How do I get one of those that's sticky?