• thisorthatorwhatever@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    The USA has a bs mythology that it was founded by ‘pioneers’ and that a wild wild west existed. The untold history of the USA is really the story of finance. Those that financed, the joint stock companies that helped to bring immigrants over. The land speculators, and recruiters that brought over Irish and other immigrants over in the 19th century, through money provided by rail and steam companies.
    These type of post-apocalyptic memes perpetuate the stereotype of a self-made country. When in reality financiers from England were offshoring labor to a country with fewer regulations and no copyright/patent laws.

  • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I find it amazing that finance, sales, etc are held in such high regard when it’s science and technology that advance society.

    • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      Most scientific and engineering skills would also be useless if civilization collapses. For example, I am a scientific software developer. Most of my work has been for medical research, which is something people tend to respect. However, I wouldn’t be able to do anything useful with numerical modelling in a survival situation. My limited skills as an amateur home renovator would be far more relevant.

  • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    As a software engineer I often think about how laughably useless my skillset would be in any kind of survival or societal reset sort of situation.

    • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      You’re a software engineer. You at least know the very basics of digital electronics, and can probably work your way backward to rudimentary power supplies.

      You are far from fucked.

      Mathematicians though? Oof I worry about them, if they did anything too practical they’d be physicists.

  • Dasus@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    “Oh no, all the scum-masters are gone, who will annoy us with their inane babbling now?”