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Pie · 01-07-2004, 10:12 AM

I went through one of these engineer-obsessive equation mangling fits when I was picking a major in college. (While the topic isn't as emotional, the logic still holds -- it's a long-term commitment, with a large investment that is hard to change later.)

What I realized is that while I would never be happy as, say, a lawyer or a neurosurgeon, I would probably be pretty happy as either a physicist or an engineer. There is a curve that describes your happiness with different choices. While the choices down on the left side of the curve have a huge bang-for-buck improvement in your happiness for a "small" change in career plans (Delta1), the choices near the top present a smaller payoff for the same size change (Delta2).

I guess what I am trying to say is this: there are probably a variety of choices that one could make that would lead to happiness. Sure, one wants to be as near to dh/dc = 0 as one can be (local maximum), but the rate of change near that inflection point is pretty small.

But do try to be sure that your local maximum is really the global maximum!

Heh.

- Pie

[edited to resize image]

01-07-2004, 10:12 AM	#22
Pie Gone and done Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 4,808	I went through one of these engineer-obsessive equation mangling fits when I was picking a major in college. (While the topic isn't as emotional, the logic still holds -- it's a long-term commitment, with a large investment that is hard to change later.) What I realized is that while I would never be happy as, say, a lawyer or a neurosurgeon, I would probably be pretty happy as either a physicist or an engineer. There is a curve that describes your happiness with different choices. While the choices down on the left side of the curve have a huge bang-for-buck improvement in your happiness for a "small" change in career plans (Delta1), the choices near the top present a smaller payoff for the same size change (Delta2). I guess what I am trying to say is this: there are probably a variety of choices that one could make that would lead to happiness. Sure, one wants to be as near to dh/dc = 0 as one can be (local maximum), but the rate of change near that inflection point is pretty small. But do try to be sure that your local maximum is really the global maximum! Heh. - Pie [edited to resize image] Attached Images __________________ per·son \ˈpər-sən\ (noun) - an ephemeral collection of small, irrational decisions The fun thing about evolution (and science in general) is that it happens whether you believe in it or not.