Political Memes

Musk should be kept far away from the health insurance industry.

The latter sentence depends on the country and situation. I don't think it is generally true. What is "natural inclination" anyway? Pay a lot and maybe people will naturally become inclined to apply?

No. Other countries education is nowhere near equivalent to the US.

From another comment of mine:

My wife woke me to the abysmal nature of education in America. Not even mad or condemning us, she's merely puzzled. She has a degree, and 40+ continuing ed certs, in early childhood education. Oh fuck me y'all would be swole if you knew what I knew.

I've seen videos of her teaching in the Philippines at her own little school. In one exercise, 3-year olds are funneling colored water into containers. "What are you teaching here?" "Hand eye coordination." Fuck me, we were thrown on the floor with blocks until we were 5, and kindergarten was still mostly daycare. These "schools" won't allow her to teach anything. The mildest proposals are met with, "We're not doing that." She has been denied when asking to draw up a lesson plan.

In the Philippines, they start reading at 3. By 4 they know 4-5 letter words and have started arithmetic. And this isn't some tiger mom bullshit. These kids are having a blast! They love competing and helping one another. One 6-yo got on stage at a graduation thing and gave a talk. I seriously doubt many full-grown Americans would be as smooth. Hopefully we'll get the school reopened back there.

Here in America, she's given up her career, nothing to be had but minimum wage. She could make more at Walmart and actually have benefits. She has a pretty great job now, loves it, but it's not her passion.

Americans are uneducated and lazy as fuck. We cannot continue to coast like this or the American Century is over. Hell, it's already over.

There's a surplus of STEM labor. It's the trades which are short.

I agree with the general sentiment that STEM scares a lot of Americans.

When I would tell other young women I was an engineering major, I would often hear a similar refrain - "Oh, I could never do that!" And it drove me insane! I am not magically gifted at mental math, I can't do differential equations in my head. And most engineers I know, whether American or foreign, can't do those things either.

A lot of engineering isn't about being freakishly gifted like Elon Musk pretends. It takes gradual development of skills toward an end goal. First, you have to nail down the tools for the work (math, physics, chemistry), then you get to apply those tools to real-world problems. Engineering is problem solving, making mistakes, and being curious enough to keep going.

In short, engineering is about the long game. And didn't become rewarding until around year 3 for me. I took some other classes in subjects to entertain myself and fill my schedule. In the disciplines of archeology, art history, and archetecture. And I called them my sanity classes. They were immediately satisfying, and made me feel like I was learning and not struggling or making those mistakes I made in engineering classes. I think most students enjoy the satisfaction of classes like that. The learning seems more instantaneous and less like a step on a ladder.

Sorry for the diatribe. In short, if you happen to read this as a young person and have the opportunity to study engineering - do it. Try not to go into debt for it, but don't feel excluded because you aren't the best at long division.

As for Musk, I've spoken with a few engineers who worked at his various companies. Everyone has left for other companies because he is a nightmare to work for. Yes, there are gifted engineers from other countries, but Musk wants employees that are tied to him and will work the slavish hours to earn a better life for the next generation of their families. A lot of American engineers are not willing to ignore their families like Musk himself clearly does. There are plenty of other space companies that pay well and aren't run by sociopaths.

I don't think there's is a STEM worker shortage. IIRC, there have been something like 300k tech layoffs in the last couple years. Actual scientists and mathmeticians are extremely underpaid, but a lot of people like doing it, which is one of the reasons "citizen science" is becoming popular.