| I'm not OP, but why would an engineer write a "paper on the impact of #MeToo" that anyone would need to "trust" purely on the engineering experience of the author? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Media_Lab > Some recurring themes of work at the Media Lab include [..] designing technology for the developing world. What about this? Is this not also activism in a way? IMO, if engineers were just making little toys they in engineering clubs with no impact on wider society, sure, they could have no interest in human affairs for all I care. But insofar they want to draw from and impact on human affairs, they need to assume the responsibility they have anyway, if they accept it or not. From the 2017 award page: > Their work shows that science and scholarship are as powerful tools for social change as art and protest, and it challenges those of us in academia to use our powers for good. And again, this is really not a rhetorical question, what would a paper on "the impact of metoo" by an engineer even look like? Would there be a personal opinion in it somewhere, if not of the author then of "subjects", or would it be all "objective" and mathematical, employing "best practices" with no judgement calls in sight? I'm totally not seeing it, so my main "opinion" on that is surprise, and interest, like when a program exhibits a really odd bug where I don't even see how that part could possibly affect that other part. I don't have an opinion on it at this point like I would on a program feature because I can't even parse it as such. It seems like a category mistake, if that's the right term. |
> It's hard to trust a paper you've published on the impact of #MeToo when your department is literally rewarding the founders.
Which does raise the questions
> why would an engineer write a "paper on the impact of #MeToo" that anyone would need to "trust" purely on the engineering experience of the author?
and
> what would a paper on "the impact of metoo" by an engineer even look like
I didn't post that up top precisely because I didn't want to trigger silent downvotes. But some apparently can't even leave something that is at the bottom be. Well, if it's so horrible, let's actually hear it. Anyone who asks anyone to have a opinion on a thing, or downvotes someone for asking what that thing is, should at least have a mental model of said thing they can explain to others. So do that.