Are software engineers more likely to be socialist? \ stacker news ~AskSN

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Are software engineers more likely to be socialist?

532 sats \ 38 comments \ @SimpleStacker 19h AskSN

Interesting tidbit about Mamdani's win in New York:

And we can't deny what's happened to software-dominated places like SF and Seattle

151 sats \ 21 replies \ @Undisciplined 19h

Fits with my experience. I think it’s from thinking they’re smarter than everyone else and being completely oblivious to Mises’ Socialist Calculation Problem.

112 sats \ 15 replies \ @SimpleStacker OP 19h

So you think it comes from a place of thinking that society just needs to be engineered by smart people and then we'd all be happy

88 sats \ 11 replies \ @Undisciplined 18h

Yep, it’s just run of the mill technocracy, which they’re basically unaware has failed repeatedly already or they think it failed because the “right” people were never in charge.

205 sats \ 10 replies \ @freetx 17h

I think you are basically right....but as a Gen-Xer who has been in tech since the late 80s, it wasn't always like this.

The tech scene was decidedly libertarian borderline AnCap from 80s - mid-2000s.

I mean reddit was basically Ron Paul HQ Central at its founding.

61 sats \ 0 replies \ @DEADBEEF 15h

This shift has always puzzled me and for whatever reason the enshittification of tech followed shortly afterwards.

30 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 17h

That’s interesting. Maybe once it became a major profession the types of people pursuing it changed.

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker OP 17h

that seems like a very plausible hypothesis

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110 sats \ 6 replies \ @SimpleStacker OP 17h

When/how did things start to change?

172 sats \ 5 replies \ @freetx 16h

I would say about 2010 was the watershed moment. Not sure why though? Generational? Social media?

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @TexasDrift 14h

No, the issue stems from the university system these engineers are coming out of. It’s part of a broader trend among graduates. They’re taught that capitalism and corporations are inherently evil, even as they draw six-figure salaries from those same companies.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @TexasDrift 14h

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 14h

At least one of the people I'm thinking of didn't go to college, so I'm not sure that's it.

52 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 17h

Yeah, I know plenty that seem to think the problem with communism was that they didn't have the right people or systems in place and we can do it now with the tech we have....

I have never heard any mention Mises at all by these people. They aren't reading philosophy. I know one exception who is a big fan of decentralization but he's no socialist.

I mean, think about it. Communism was supposedly a society driven by science...

Of course that is incredibly naive.

46 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined 17h

I think naive is exactly the right word. They have a lifetime of experience being able to solve problems that others can’t and it doesn’t occur to them that some problems are fundamentally unsolvable.

99 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 17h

It also hasn't occurred to them that many systems are not broken. They are working as DESIGNED!

I ALWAYS lead with this when I talk about the problems with communism/socialism.

Even if you have the smartest people in the world and the most moral people in the world setting it up and facilitating it you'd still fail. Why? The calculation problem. Of course the AI maxis will probably think they can do it... if people can't get that this is a fool's errand I don't waste my time.

Usually these people are very naive in many other areas as well. Looking at incentives is a great angle to take on so many things. Usually the people that get incentives aren't engineers unless they have worked with the UX or marketing side of the businesses. I've always worked closely with those sides and I'm able to talk to normal people and engineers alike. Bridging the divide. Empathy is undervalued as a learned skill IMO. It can be a multiplier for an engineer's career.

104 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 17h

It's a great point. Public Choice Theory is the other death blow to statism. Even if it could be planned, no group of real human beings would plan it to optimize the general welfare.

the AI maxis will probably think they can do it

They do...but, again, it's only because they don't actually bother to learn what the calculation problem is.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 17h

You nailed it.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @itsrealfake 7h

well... FOSS is pretty socialist if you ask old lawyers

51 sats \ 3 replies \ @02c42fc294 16h

I think there is some truth to this. Software engineers as I know them are rather well paid, but also very aware of the privileges that come with it, so the challenge of designing a system that elevates everyone to the same level of wellbeing is definitely there (even if sometimes only as a mind game). Being an engineering discipline we also rarely deal in absolutes, rather we are aware that tradeoffs are necessary to make progress in the real world. And finally, as several people have pointed out there is also some hubris involved, since rule setting and world building is much of a software engineers daily work (but with the realism that every set of rules can be exploited, hence we don't tend to strive for perfection, rather a good enough).

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker OP 16h

Something I find stunning though is that no software engineer would think it's a good idea to go in and just refactor the entire codebase without first studying it deeply to understand how it functions, yet they think somehow it would be smart to elect commies that want to do exactly that.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @fourrules 3h

Haha, you mustn't know many software engineers :-)

I know plenty who have exactly this instinct, and would do it if they could get paid to do it, and the calamity that ensues would always be other people's responsibility and failure.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @02c42fc294 16h

But this is hardly specific to software engineers, as people embedded in certain contexts, it think we all tend to bring our work and context to the political table. Noatter which orientation.

30 sats \ 2 replies \ @aljaz 16h

Tech is somehow riddled with commie cunts. I used to be involved in the hacking community and that also turned completely woke&commie, which is funny and sad at the same time.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker OP 16h

wonder why

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @aljaz 9h

Density of people with mental issues

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @optimism 17h

I think that it's more a generic live and let live (liberal) attitude. It's easy to not care if you don't really feel much pain because you're on the high end of the salary range. I expect that we will witness a shift in the coming years, now that the profession is potentially coming a bit under pressure. VC bros flipped too and they have an outsized influence.

I'm not sure if it matters though. It's not been special to be a software developer in general since like 15 years or so and the really talented young people that will make the difference don't have time for nor care about politics.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 17h

In my experience no. But because of the type of minds that do well in engineering you get many people that think about base questions. This means you get anarchists, communists, and contrarian thinkers. You also get people that think they are contrarian but aren't. In my years in the industry I've run across all stripes. But, the vast majority are rather normie in their political thoughts.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @sox 3h

I try to stay away from public politics discussions, but I would say that software engineers are socialist because they solve problems.

Socialism advocates for a better world by solving social issues, so it checks out.

Everyone’s different, I met more right-leaning engineers than left-leaning ones.

edit: also really important to remember that software engineers are more likely to be narcissists, so this fits more the question

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @fourrules 3h

Big data, AI, wearables, these are the wet dreams of central planners. A percentage of software engineers leans into this for social status within a branch of tech leadership that is in favour in social engineering. It also helps them to disarm women in the field, like the cuttlefish that they are.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Crypto_ 5h freebie

Sbhsj

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @d680ecaa8e 5h

I doubt that it could be true. Software engineers are most of time isolated in coding and learning and luck part of being socialist.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @lrm_btc 18h

In my experience, yes. They think they can design the world.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 17h

I mean they think they can design much smaller things and fail very often in those endeavors. But with the AI hype get ready for a new crop of tech socialists.