Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

It is often best to leave the conversations of another profession to those other professionals.

I am an engineer. There, got that out of the way. And I have a Doctor of Philosophy or PhD in engineering. I have not idea why they call the degree by that name. Oh well, got that out of the way as well.

Recently, engineers have discussed some of the software they engineered. We use words like “hallucinate,” “bias,” and such. Sounds like philosophic terms, but we apply these to the machines we have built.

As an engineer, ever hear two philosophers talk about engineering? Oh my gosh! What a joke.

Ever hear two philosophers discuss the conversation of two engineers when the topic is philosophy? Oh no, us engineers understand philosophy just fine, right? We couldn’t possibly sound as silly as …

Yes, we can; yes, we do. Stick to engineering or philosophy or whatever is my field. Let the other folks discuss their field. Don’t borrow adjectives from their field and misapply it to my field. We can do better.