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From the “GeoCurmudgeon” column in the March/April 2009 Issue of GeoStrata:
Consider the nine wonders of the modern world; the nine men who comprise the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, led by PRC President Hu Jintao, a hydraulics engineer; Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, a geotechnical engineer; five other engineers; and two economists. (An economist, I have been told, is an engineer without charisma.) How is that possible? How could engineers run a nation, let along the largest one on our planet? And how could they do such an amazing job, simultaneously applying two polar-opposite political/economic systems to convert an ancient, rural giant into a modern, industrial colossus?
It’s true that, outside of the Anglophone world, it’s easier for people with scientific and engineering backgrounds to advance in “non-scientific” endeavours such as government, and even the ministry (which is why, IMHO, we have revival outside the US.) No one thought this was advantageous when things were going up, but now that things are coming down, perhaps it’s time for a reassesment, especially by New Atheists, who place so much confidence in left-wing Western governments to advance their “scientific” agenda.
It’s also noteworthy that the current Chinese leadership has loosened its policies toward Christians in their country. Why is this? How could scientifically trained members of an atheist institution like the CCP give religious people a break? Because they like the results. Engineers know that the “proof of the pudding is in the eating,” and evidently they like the taste of the dessert that God’s church is serving up in China these days.
3 pings
Atheism Isn’t Self-Evident From a Scientific Education | Positive Infinity says:
30 July 2009 at 1628 (UTC -5 )
[...] end result of such an emphasis would lead to engineers and scientists at the top of our society (as is the case in China) rather than the lawyers. The reason why this isn’t so is complicated, from cultural [...]
Obama and the Chinese: Doing the Deal, A Personal Reflection Based on Experience | Positive Infinity says:
23 November 2009 at 2246 (UTC -5 )
[...] their bases covered and questions answered. That is, in part, a product of the fact that many of those you sit down across from in China have scientific and technical backgrounds, as opposed to the lawyers who dominate the field [...]
Positive Infinity » Blog Archive » “Believing in Evolution” is a Religious Statement says:
14 January 2010 at 0602 (UTC -5 )
[...] who understand science, we need to start by putting people in power with scientific backgrounds, like the Chinese do. But that would take such a societal upheaval in the Anglophone world that we’d be better [...]