From: Forrest Bishop (forrestb@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Sun Mar 31 2002 - 13:04:22 MST
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Sill <extropians@dave.sill.org>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2002 9:10 AM
Subject: College major advice
> My son, Andy, is currently a sophomore computer science major at a
> local state univeristy with a good reputation in CS. He clearly has an
> aptitude for computers, but has decided that he thinks its more of a
> hobby than a profession. I couldn't pin him down on why he thinks
> that, but the decision has been made. So, we're shopping for a new
> major.
>
> He likes the idea of being able to see his work directly helping
> people.
Most, but by no means all, lawyers are involved in zero or negative-sum games; helping some at the expense of others. Stephen Magee
(University of Texas), among others, has compiled some regression analyses by county. The higher per capita lawyer count, the lower
the economic growth. It shouldn't be too hard to see why this is so.
> He's into future tech like augmentation and nanotech.
Perhaps he would consider the other sciences or engineering. These fields are positive-sum games.
> He's not hung up on earning big bucks, but wants something with a
> strong job market.
The US already has the highest per-capita percentage of lawyers in the world. The market is beyond satruated. Note that the US also
has the highest incarceration rate in the world and in history (The American Gulag), probably the most number of "laws" (this one is
hard to quantify) and an increasingly litigious population. We need more lawyers like we more cancer. No offense intended, just the
facts, sir.
-- Forrest Bishop Chairman, Institute of Atomic-Scale Engineering www.iase.cc
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