Hello Andre -
I take what seems to me to be a very different view here. I love
engineering, and I have nothing against the people who carry it out so
I'm not throwing any stones here. What I've referred to is certain
personality factors that we know from available data (16PF, MBTI etc)
to be typical of engineers as a group - individual scores as always may
vary. When matching personality to occupation one would expect a close
fit on essential factors, but a more distant one on non-essential
factors which my be of the opposite polarity. So for factor A on the
16PF, a low score would have the advantage of scepticism, detachment,
precision, criticism and ability to work alone, though this would come
with a certain rigidity and reluctance to compromise. I am sure this
description would fit many on this ng. But additionally, a low score is
at the opposite polarity from easy-going, emotionaly expressive,
co-operative, kind, adaptable and attentive to people.
I think the situation you are referring to on this ng, Andre, is that
there is a collective mutual re-inforcement of low Factor A. We have to
be careful here since individual scores vary so we can't say either
"all low Factor A are engineers" nor again "all engineers are low
Factor A". The fact that certain ng members have distorted the term
'audio' into 'engineering' (in one case simplistically stating
audio=engineering) gives this collective the advantage of being able to
state principles and argue on what they take to be their territory.
This statement of collective views, when it comes into conflict with
those who see audio as additionally having essential human and musical
content, causes the collective to re-inforce their shared Factor A and
revert more overtly to type, which for Factor A is “obstructive,
cantankerous, inflexible, rigid, cool, indifferent, secretive, anxious,
suspicious, hostile, egotistical and dry". As I write this I can see
that this does not by any means describe certain of the engineers who
post here, but on the other hand it fits a small number with uncanny
accuracy.
If we explore the character types of those who are interested in the
human and musical aspects of audio, we see quite a different picture -
the creative and expressive features are considerably stronger, and so
is the capacity for adaptability, open-mindedness, conviviality etc.