General > General Technical Chat

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

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fourfathom:

--- Quote from: IanB on August 22, 2022, 05:56:59 pm ---I think you are perhaps doing what many commentators seem to do today, in equating STEM with "Tech" (ugh, horrible term), in other words computers and software
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I've only got a datapoint comprising a few days helping the High School STEM kids debug their projects, but computers and software weren't the primary focus. 

The class was building submersible ROVs, using mostly off-the-shelf Arduino-compatible stuff for the motor controllers and grappling gear.  They had video cameras too, but I don't know what the interface was.  The programming was quite basic, mostly cookbook stuff reading joystick positions. Much of their work was in the mechanical area, waterproofing, etc.  So I felt pretty good about the technology mix there...  I volunteered when they were having hardware problems -- turned out they didn't know how to solder properly, and had not a clue about proper grounding -- the ground for the joystick potentiometers has the motor current running through it, and stuff like that. I did my best to help them figure it out, but since a deadline was looming I ended up saying "OK, here's what's going on, pay attention to how I fix it." a lot.

So I ended up having mixed feelings about it. 

* I am thrilled that these kids are at least doing *something* and are getting their hands dirty with real hardware and low-level software.
* I am a bit disappointed that Ohm's Law wasn't even mentioned, but I suppose if we're trying to get kids "hooked on tech" then this can come later.
* The emphasis on project management, including assigned management roles, seems out of place at this early stage.  I can accept that this isn't "Learning Electricity / Electronics / Software", but it shouldn't be "Project Management 101" either
* I believe the goal is to interest and prepare kids for STEM.  Some of the kids I saw seemed to be interested, but there were so few of them!

IanB:

--- Quote from: fourfathom on August 22, 2022, 11:51:07 pm ---The class was building submersible ROVs, using mostly off-the-shelf Arduino-compatible stuff for the motor controllers and grappling gear.
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That's good to hear they were doing fun stuff with real hardware.


--- Quote ---The emphasis on project management, including assigned management roles, seems out of place at this early stage.
--- End quote ---

I would agree. It is appropriate when working on the capstone project of an engineering degree, for example, but not at the introductory level when getting children interested.

tszaboo:

--- Quote from: paulca on August 22, 2022, 09:09:50 pm ---In universities, in fringe groups, fine.  But it's leaked out somehow (social media) and needs to be re-contained.  These young minds in University are opened in many ways and often run amock with fantastical ideologies or re-inventing old ideologies.  This should not be discouraged.  But it should be contained.  Social media has allowed these radical views of a small subset of students to become a mainstream global public debate. 

--- End quote ---
Really, the issue is that it got out of those small social circles. Now majority of Hollywood is putting up this woke garbage, where message first is the importance for a movie. Disney executives have talked about this on zoom meetings that got leaked to the public. At this point it is social engineering, not entertainment.
And big tech also got a huge issue with extreme leftism.

Now, I don't give a damn about American politics. What I care about is these people are in decision making positions, where a small fraction of them is going to make their decision based on political ideology, and not merit. I don't have to tell you that if FB or Google wants to hide something, just a tiny tweak of the algorithm is going to affect things on the long term. But they are not doing these tiny tweaks, they are waging an all out war on "offensive content" and "misinformation". The Stasi and the KGB wasn't this good at manipulating the masses. Humanity invents AI and the first thing we do with it is to program it to manipulate people to rig elections?
I want political checks and balances to continue. In the entire free world.

ebastler:

--- Quote from: tszaboo on August 23, 2022, 09:27:53 am ---And big tech also got a huge issue with extreme leftism.

--- End quote ---

If you equate donations to the Democrats with "extreme leftism", then there is either something wrong with U.S. politics or with your understanding thereof.  :-\

By the way -- how can that chart list "employee donations" by company?! Do individuals who donate to a party have to declare which company they work for?!

Edit: Oh look, there's also a chart in the same study which shows what the companies donated. These are the donations which corporate can control, via the political action committees, in my understanding. Nicely balanced between the parties. Why didn't you include that in your post?

tszaboo:

--- Quote from: ebastler on August 23, 2022, 10:28:25 am ---
--- Quote from: tszaboo on August 23, 2022, 09:27:53 am ---And big tech also got a huge issue with extreme leftism.

--- End quote ---

If you equate donations to the Democrats with "extreme leftism", then there is either something wrong with U.S. politics or with your understanding thereof.  :-\

By the way -- how can that chart list "employee donations" by company?! Do individuals who donate to a party have to declare which company they work for?!

--- End quote ---
Yes, there is something seriously wrong with US politics.

And that's 2014, if you would take that image from today  :palm: And the republicans now an extreme right wing party.
I'm against all radicalization, since I was born in a communist country, which then turned into a failed state, I know too damn well, that you have to keep the politicians in check. But the public in the US is asking for even more radicalization from the parties.

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