God, you're dumb and you're a WHAT?

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The discussion revolves around the unsettling realization that individuals who appear incompetent or unintelligent can hold significant professional roles, such as doctors or engineers. Participants express concerns about the qualifications and capabilities of people in high-responsibility jobs, particularly in fields like medicine and engineering, where mistakes can have serious consequences. There is a debate about the perception of trade schools, with some arguing that while they may attract less academically inclined individuals, the rigorous training and experience in trades ensure that incompetence is filtered out over time. The conversation also touches on the alarming experiences of encountering students and professionals who lack basic knowledge in their fields, raising fears about the implications for public safety and health. Overall, the thread highlights a broader anxiety about the competence of professionals in critical roles and the potential risks associated with their education and training.
Pengwuino
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Do you ever run into people during your studies or out in life who seem so unbelievably dumb and incompetant... and then you ask them what they do/are majoring in, and its like "Well I'm a doctor" or "I'm a civil engineer" or "I'm supervisor of the nth largest internet backbone"? It's rather scary to think that you may be working in a building where the designer was an alcoholic partier during college and this just might be one of his first designs :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

The jobs that you go to as a trade school scare me the most... and I'm talking about the people who weren't good enough for a real college... "Oh hey, I install gas lines under your house" or "I maintain 747's for the airliner you're about to hop on to". Kinda makes you wonder...
 
Physics news on Phys.org
"What type of job could an incompetent:person as yourself possibly have?"

"Im the safety technician at the local nuclear reactor"

O_____________________O

*moves far far away*
 
Pengwuino said:
Do you ever run into people during your studies or out in life who seem so unbelievably dumb and incompetant... and then you ask them what they do/are majoring in, and its like "Well I'm a doctor" or "I'm a civil engineer" or "I'm supervisor of the nth largest internet backbone"? It's rather scary to think that you may be working in a building where the designer was an alcoholic partier during college and this just might be one of his first designs :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
The jobs that you go to as a trade school scare me the most... and I'm talking about the people who weren't good enough for a real college... "Oh hey, I install gas lines under your house" or "I maintain 747's for the airliner you're about to hop on to". Kinda makes you wonder...

Yeah that has definitely happened to me. It scares me when I think about how many idiots seem to be in engineering, or medicine or anything where there is any responsibility. Some people just aren't meant for that, I don't know how they make it through.

Oh, and I hope you weren't implying that only dumb people go to trade schools. Trades are a valuable part of society, just as much as any university degree. I apologize if you don't think that, I just hate it when people think they are better because they have a university degree, and that everything else is secondary to that.
 
scorpa said:
Oh, and I hope you weren't implying that only dumb people go to trade schools. Trades are a valuable part of society, just as much as any university degree. I apologize if you don't think that, I just hate it when people think they are better because they have a university degree, and that everything else is secondary to that.

Oh of course not, hell some of the stuff they do is actually very interesting to me. Unfortunately, their near non-existant requirements and low-cost and flashy ad campaigns tend to draw the dumber crowds...
 
Pengwuino said:
Oh of course not, hell some of the stuff they do is actually very interesting to me. Unfortunately, their near non-existant requirements and low-cost and flashy ad campaigns tend to draw the dumber crowds...


Ok just making sure :smile:
 
moose said:
"What type of job could an incompetent:person as yourself possibly have?"

"Im the safety technician at the local nuclear reactor"

O_____________________O

*moves far far away*
That reminds me of Homer form the simpsons
 
Are we talking about the guy I went to high school with, that did LSD everyday for 3 years? And at our class reunion I found out he was a Nuro-surgeon? Yea I'd want him working on my brain! Hes in SoCal BTW.
 
Pengwuino said:
Oh of course not, hell some of the stuff they do is actually very interesting to me. Unfortunately, their near non-existant requirements and low-cost and flashy ad campaigns tend to draw the dumber crowds...
While the trade schools may draw "dumber" people, they still have to pass the courses which weeds the worst ones out, and they don't last in the trades very long if they're incompetent. Electricians, pipefitters, sheetrock guys, garage door installers, etc, all end up getting a huge amount of experience in their jobs and end up being able to do most of it in their sleep. The outfits they work for feed greater responsibility to them in small increments, and if they can't handle safety and proper proceedures, they get stuck in positions where they're always supervised and never make any important decisions. I am much, much less worried about the work done by people in the trades than I am by dumb doctors or engineers or computer programmers.
 
hypatia said:
Are we talking about the guy I went to high school with, that did LSD everyday for 3 years? And at our class reunion I found out he was a Nuro-surgeon? Yea I'd want him working on my brain! Hes in SoCal BTW.
That is somewhat scary.
 
  • #10
hypatia said:
Are we talking about the guy I went to high school with, that did LSD everyday for 3 years? And at our class reunion I found out he was a Nuro-surgeon? Yea I'd want him working on my brain! Hes in SoCal BTW.
Ack. You wonder how this happens.

Maybe like this!

GET YOUR LEGAL COLLEGE DEGREE IN 5 DAYS!

Have you ever thought that the only thing stopping you from a great job and better pay was a few letters behind your name? Well now you can get them instantly and legally!

BA BSc BCom MA MBA PhD Degrees!

100% Approval! No Coursework! 100% Legal!

I think I will be a neuro surgeon next week. :-p

http://theshopontop.com/collegedegreesnow/

These are Google ads, click at your own risk.
 
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  • #11
I can't believe it Evo...

"I want to thank you for providing me with this impressive MBA degree and transcripts. This is an ideal way to acknowledge ones life experience and professional status. I highly recommend instantdegrees to anyone who has many years of work experience but lacks a traditional college degree. I now have clout and I'm ready to apply for senior management positions within
my company. Thank you very much."

 
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  • #12
I'll graduate college tomorrow... :zzz:
 
  • #13
"I have never been offered as many loans by my bank as I have since beginning to use my Doctoral Title"

My god...
 
  • #14
Pengwuino said:
I can't believe it Evo...
Well, I'm also getting a PHD in experimental Physics so I can help out in the upper physics forums. Maybe next month I'll add a few more PHD's, any suggestions?
 
  • #15
"I use my Degree ( a Doctorate) as a dating ploy. I had good quality calling cards professionally printed and I always present them on being introduced to anyone. Often, I simply introduce myself to a lady I find attractive and offer the card saying that I would like to meet her for dinner at some future date, if she is amenable. More often than not, I receive a call."

And you can see how these people deserve to be doctors
 
  • #16
yomamma said:
And you can see how these people deserve to be doctors
Yomamma, you smooth devil, you can pretend to be a 13 year old prodigy.
 
  • #17
Thx evo :smile:

this message was not edited[/size]:rolleyes:
 
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  • #18
yomamma said:
:rolleyes:was that a compliment?[/size]
Yes, of course. :smile:
 
  • #19
Yah I think I am going to get a quadruple doctorate. Physics, Math, History... maybe a little Mechanical Engineering..
 
  • #20
Well, that's at least as much training that Presidents get to qualify for having their finger on the nuke trigger ...! ;)
 
  • #21
Evo said:
Ack. You wonder how this happens.
Maybe like this!
GET YOUR LEGAL COLLEGE DEGREE IN 5 DAYS!
Have you ever thought that the only thing stopping you from a great job and better pay was a few letters behind your name? Well now you can get them instantly and legally!
BA BSc BCom MA MBA PhD Degrees!
100% Approval! No Coursework! 100% Legal!
I think I will be a neuro surgeon next week. :-p
http://theshopontop.com/collegedegreesnow/
These are Google ads, click at your own risk.


Evo,

Please do not make light of my dear alma mater.

Respectfully,

Dr. MIH
 
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  • #22
Math Is Hard said:
Evo,
Please do not make light of my dear alma mater.
Respectfully,
Dr. MIH
MUMs the word MIH. A fine school it is! I will be graduating with honors next Thursday, :approve:
 
  • #23
Wonderful news, Dr. Evo! I'll see you at our reunion in the Virgin Islands.

Meanwhile, who's up for some elective cardiac or neurosurgery? I'm ready to get this show on the road!
 
  • #24
I can't believe this! : , and here i am with 2 years and some months in college studying and 2 more years to graduate... I could have gotten my degree in 5 DAYS! :approve: :smile:
 
  • #25
Math Is Hard said:
Meanwhile, who's up for some elective cardiac or neurosurgery? I'm ready to get this show on the road!

I am! I need this brain transplanted into my head...
 
  • #26
Honest to God, I knew someone at the Naval Academy who asked - "but if ships are made of metal, how do they float??"
 
  • #27
russ_watters said:
Honest to God, I knew someone at the Naval Academy who asked - "but if ships are made of metal, how do they float??"

well it IS pretty hard to explain it to anyone without getting into talk about magic water elves that swim under boats to hold them up in the water, because then everyone wants to know how the US governemnt got those elves to work for us, and then labor laws come up, and then PETA gets involved and then issues about black market elf sales and all of that... so schools have started making up this "bouyancy" stuff that's taught just before an exam so it never properly gets covered, and everyone forgets quickly, and so the mass population can remain blissfully ignorant. unfortunately, you're friend was a clever one, and still managed to ponder the ellusive question of floating metal.
 
  • #28
I used to work ina clinical laboratry, and had medical doctors call and ask how to test for immunity (to some pathogen).
 
  • #29
We hired this one guy and on the first day we went to a new job. We were at the job site and looking at a big set of plans for a new 5 mile stretch of road. We looked at page after page of this road and drove up and down this 5 mile stretch checking things out. While we were driving we found out that the new guy has a degree in mechanical engineering. towards the end of the day this guy asks "So what are we building, a hospital?"
 
  • #30
In my microbiology lab, the instructor was saying that they previously used metal wires to put bacteria samples onto the microscope plates, and the wire is sterilized using fire, but now they use throwaway plastic sticks. One student asks "so do we sterilize the plastic stick in the bunsen burner too?"
Just think about what you're asking... putting plastic into a 2000 degree flame.

In the environmental laboratory, one student was trying to argue that a cubic meter and a litre were the same thing. As you should know, a cubic meter is actually 1000 litres, but we could not convince her otherwise.

I should mention that these are students in the final semester of chemistry. After this semester, they'll be real chemistry employees doing real tests like sampling the water you drink and the air you breathe. I find that scary.
 
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  • #31
No phone number, business address? Nice, profitable document-forgery scheme they have going there. :rolleyes:

Interesting story here; one of these 'institutions' gave an MBA to a cat:

http://www.turnto10.com/news/3976875/detail.html
 
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  • #32
MIH should use that cat picture as her new avatar.
 
  • #33
A senior Homeland Security director was brought down in '03, her 'doctorate' being from an fradulent online college:

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/20849-1.html
 
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  • #34
A : God, you're dumb... and you're a WHAT?

B : I'm a politician. They call me Mr. President !
 
  • #35
Gale said:
well it IS pretty hard to explain it to anyone without getting into talk about magic water elves that swim under boats to hold them up in the water, because then everyone wants to know how the US governemnt got those elves to work for us, and then labor laws come up, and then PETA gets involved and then issues about black market elf sales and all of that... so schools have started making up this "bouyancy" stuff that's taught just before an exam so it never properly gets covered, and everyone forgets quickly, and so the mass population can remain blissfully ignorant. unfortunately, you're friend was a clever one, and still managed to ponder the ellusive question of floating metal.
:smile: :smile: :smile: You must have graduated from one of the more prestigious 5-day programs to know so much! :biggrin:

ShawnD said:
I should mention that these are students in the final semester of chemistry. After this semester, they'll be real chemistry employees doing real tests like sampling the water you drink and the air you breathe. I find that scary.
Or they go on to med school. The more med students I teach, the more afraid I am to go to a doctor. Sure, there are plenty of good students, but then you run into the few who just leave you wondering how they got into med school and why they are still there. One can only hope they won't pass their boards so can't actually practice medicine.
 
  • #36
Don't forget ITT-Technical Institute.
 
  • #37
ShawnD said:
MIH should use that cat picture as her new avatar.
Excellent idea, Shawn. :approve:
Thanks.
 
  • #38
Moonbear said:
:
Or they go on to med school. .
or they start experimenting on sheep
 
  • #39
ShawnD said:
In the environmental laboratory, one student was trying to argue that a cubic meter and a litre were the same thing.

Why didn't you grab a meter stick and a soda bottle? Then hit her upside the head with both.
 
  • #40
For an additional $99 fee, investigators said the agent requested the cat's transcript. The document arrived with Colby's graduation date, student number and a GPA of 3.5.

That cat's smarter then me :(
 
  • #41
Pengwuino said:
Why didn't you grab a meter stick and a soda bottle?
I was going to suggest the same thing...
Then hit her upside the head with both.
...but obviously hadn't thought it through to the best use of each object. :smile:
 
  • #42
I'm 17- and in an advanced Englsh/ History class. (Same kids in each class) These kids (who have higher GPA's then I do) Say some things that make you go. "Ahhhh ya"

My favorite is when a girl in my history class asked my teacher what the "Aforementioned acts" did. She belived they were a new set of acts she had never learned. Like the Stamp Act.
 
  • #43
B : I'm a politician. They call me Mr. President !
c'mon he's not that dumb, although too much drinking may have impaired his verbal abilities somewhat. His SAT scores were not that bad, at least for the standards at the time (percentile).
 
  • #44
GCT said:
c'mon he's not that dumb, although too much drinking may have impaired his verbal abilities somewhat. His SAT scores were not that bad, at least for the standards at the time (percentile).


I always laugh at people who keep calling Bush dumb. Dangerous, yeah. Dumb? Nope. The reason the Democrats lost the election is because they were the dumb ones who kept underestimating him. And so i keep laughing at people who call him stupid. And cry because their stupidity is going to screw us all.
 
  • #45
franznietzsche said:
I always laugh at people who keep calling Bush dumb. Dangerous, yeah. Dumb? Nope. The reason the Democrats lost the election is because they were the dumb ones who kept underestimating him. And so i keep laughing at people who call him stupid. And cry because their stupidity is going to screw us all.
He also managed to win an election in which he ran as the common man, despite the fact that he's both Harvard and Yale educated, is a multimillionaire, and his father was at one time the most powerful man in the world. Brilliant.
 
  • #46
ShawnD said:
He also managed to win an election in which he ran as the common man, despite the fact that he's both Harvard and Yale educated, is a multimillionaire, and his father was at one time the most powerful man in the world. Brilliant.

he ran as the common man?
 
  • #47
Gale said:
well it IS pretty hard to explain it to anyone without getting into talk about magic water elves that swim under boats to hold them up in the water, because then everyone wants to know how the US government got those elves to work for us, and then labor laws come up, and then PETA gets involved and then issues about black market elf sales and all of that... so schools have started making up this "buoyancy" stuff that's taught just before an exam so it never properly gets covered, and everyone forgets quickly, and so the mass population can remain blissfully ignorant. unfortunately, you're friend was a clever one, and still managed to ponder the ellusive question of floating metal.
Your wrong they don't have the magic water elves swimming holding the boat it's actually the PETA guys swimming under the boat and holding it. The magic water elves are used to teach kids about "buoyancy" and because there magic water elves and kids think they make toys for Santa so he can deliver it on Christmas(But Santa actually the NASA agent that does that secret spying stuff...)they listen to them about "buoyancy".
 
  • #48
ShawnD said:
He also managed to win an election in which he ran as the common man, despite the fact that he's both Harvard and Yale educated, is a multimillionaire, and his father was at one time the most powerful man in the world. Brilliant.


Well here's the kicker. How many people think Bush give's a rats posterior about gay marriage? How many people seriously believe that it matters one iota to him? The whole point of pushing to constitutionally ban gay marriage was to drive fundamentalists to the polls on election day. NOTHING else. And while they were there, why not vote for Bush too... It was really a clever plan. Notice how the issue was pretty much dropped afterwards? He doesn't care. He played the fundamentalists for fools. But the democratic party was too busy calling him stupid to catch on and counter that move, and they lost, quite decisively, compared to 2000, even compared to Clinton's victories.
 
  • #49
Does the tone of this thread strike anyone else as similar to JP's from Grandma's Boy?
 
  • #50
He also managed to win an election in which he ran as the common man, despite the fact that he's both Harvard and Yale educated, is a multimillionaire, and his father was at one time the most powerful man in the world. Brilliant.

He also managed to be an alcoholic cokehead.
 

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