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I'm sure that most of us are all too familiar with the self-taught science syndrome; where advanced qualitative concepts are "learned" in the absence of the mathematical and quantitative foundations needed for a proper understanding of a subject. The irony is that an education helps to set limits. I find that it is often true that the less a person knows, the more they have to say. Heck, a big part of my job is knowing when I'm in over my head. But I see many other people without a science or engineering degree who have no idea just how dangerous they really are. I see this frequently in my work. In fact I have made a fair amount of money following up on wanna-be engineers. There are a heck of a lot people out there "engineering" systems with nothing more than a tinker toy level understanding of the components and technology used. At the same time, I see a lot of engineers working as sales persons. Go figure!
So here is my favorite guy. He has a freshman level, or even a high school level of understanding of electronics at best. Yet he owns a company that makes industrial machines, and he survives by talking a really good, long, line of crap. Of course it is only a matter of time until he screws up so bad that somebody either dies or is injured, or at the least, until he gets sued out of existence. He does finally seek help at times, but since it comes out of his wallet there is usually a fair amount of damage done before he gives up and jobs the work out to someone who is qualified. And the really scary part is that he's not unique.
So here is my favorite guy. He has a freshman level, or even a high school level of understanding of electronics at best. Yet he owns a company that makes industrial machines, and he survives by talking a really good, long, line of crap. Of course it is only a matter of time until he screws up so bad that somebody either dies or is injured, or at the least, until he gets sued out of existence. He does finally seek help at times, but since it comes out of his wallet there is usually a fair amount of damage done before he gives up and jobs the work out to someone who is qualified. And the really scary part is that he's not unique.
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