Yes, I've been around long enough to hear it all--about how engineers, scientists, programmers, whatever are all "supposed to be" generally "lacking" in being able to express emotion. We're "supposed to be" "introverted" or "lacking in social skills" or whatever. The labels they give us are "four eyes," (in the days of my 'uthe) "brain," "nerd," and nowadays, "geeks." And I won't even go into the psycho/social analysis of how the 'popular people' (read: jocks and prom queens) 'look down upon,' or 'pity,' or even seek to 'lord over' us. E-Blogger doesn't have enough bandwidth for me to launch into that rant. The thing is that we're not any of that, and, I freely admit, they're (i.e., the 'popular people' ) not either.
When I was a young man and an emerging engineer (my thanks to Russian Cosmonaut, Yuri Gigauran--but that's another story), part of my life plan was to find out about myself and other people. (In modern MBA-ese it would be called, "...getting laid is part of the business plan." ) The methodology I chose ...well... actually I stumbled onto was what was called (in those days) "Growth Groups." (I can see my contemporaries all wistfully nodding now.) But alas I had this nasty habit of asking questions, "...but why is it that way?," and the like. I sometimes wished (business plan, remember) that I could just "go with the flow" like the others and just "experience" and "be one with the... ya-de-ya-dah." But that was not meant for me. So I went to original sources. The psychologist, Abraham Maslov, with his "self-actualization" and his "hierarchy of needs" were some of the big things touted by my fellow Growth groupies back then, so I started reading his works. For me it was cracking open the Rossetta Stone ...the first of many as it turned out.
One of Maslov's works that especially influenced me was his "Psychology of Science." In it he stated that the primary factor in the motivation of a scientist (or allied profession) was curiosity--an emotional state. This was quite an eye-opener. And it made sense. How often did I notice in conversations with fellow engineers the enthusiasm in, the curiosity about, and willingness to share the things we were discussing. True, the context was mainly technological in nature and not sports or movie stars, but emotions were a key part of the interactions. The range of topics widened in my discussions with fellow Mensans, but again discussions were full of emotional involvement and sometimes even spirited.
One of the little side treks in my journey that pointed this out occurred when moving into an office at one place I worked. I was cleaning out a file cabinet, and I ran across a rather poignant poem penned by the previous occupant. Pushkin it wasn't, but it did convey what was in his heart rather well. For me, this pointed out that technologists are also emotional people too.
So called "linear thinker" technologists are perhaps more aware than others of the non-linearities, the discontinuities, and the blind canyons of curiosity-driven paths of discovery. So I had my ups and downs, but I expected that. (I often didn't like it, but I still expected that.) And in this journey I suddenly realized that others--i.e., non-technologists--had their own keys to their own passions. I could now more readily appreciate the passion that the high school jock cum professional baseball player seeks to perfect his(er) athletic prowess, or how a musician or artist or writer passionately struggles to convey the vision in their head to others. All of us have at least one good thing that we're good at and take pride (an emotion) in and will strive (an emotion) to do well. All can be appreciated for their unique passion. (And one nice, serendipitist result of this journey of self-discovery was that ...the business plan was being more successful.)
Now, yes, I have run into technologists that fit the passionless stereotype. Here the (gallows humor) joke of "'engineer' is a psychological syndrome" describes them, but, to be fair, I've also seen artists, athletes, etc. with similar hang-ups. But if anyone has seen a typical bunch of engineers or programmers working together on solving a problem, it's easy to catch their infectious enthusiasm. Passionless is not an apt descriptor here.
You'll never convince me of the myth of the passionless geek, but then I'm having too much fun ...discovering something new all the time, studying about electrical play, doing presentations, introducing young lovelies to electrical play, etc. Nonetheless I hope this little piece sets you to thinking.
Cao-4-Now
Unc'
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