Quote: (10-31-2016 11:49 AM)RIslander Wrote:
Physics, Engineering or Medicine. They are subjects that teach rationalism, decision making and problem solving.
No way.
This is the path that lead to the near distruction of civilization the last round in 50s and 60s.
All those technocrats and the professional class start more problems then they ever fix. Look at the UN packed full of MD's, Egineers, economists, etc. Ask them to plan and execute the simple task of a birthday party for 21 female co-ed and they would fail mightily. How you expect them to solve world hunger? Won't happen.
The hell holes of America inner cities was crested by needy technocrats who did not understand people.
My tske is...Don't let people who don't get laid try to recommend solutions for broad subsets of the population.
They just don't get it.
-- Example: Housing Projects started off intended as futuristic living for the middle class white America. Urban living with everything close by and lots of parks. What they soon realized is that white people did not like that living and found it repressive. They shunned it and continued the move to the suburbs. To save face these projects were rebranded as affordable housing for now displaces African-Americans who had their communities torn down for infrastructure expansions to aid people to get to the suburbs. So they all move in but quickly dont like the projects either. Unlike the white Americans, these people had no way or means to leave and very quickly conditions deteriorated into a dystopian nightmare and these projects turned into hell dens of crime and poverty.
^^^
Technocrats get lost in their processes. As long as the systems "make sense" then see no wrong in that the outputs produce. On paper and in their models those housing projects were the future and they were convinced people would flock to them and reject urban or suburban living. They view urban living as unclean, and suburban living as resource wasting. Their plans and systems failed miserably.
Engineers/MDs are great for problem solving and monkey work but the are complete fools at understand the nuances of people.
The witchcraft profressions of economics and psychology are no better as they use unrational systems as means to predict outcomes and are resistant to change.
All those technocrats worked in tandem to destroy the West the first time and we still deal with their fuckups today.
Now back to the OPs question..
If you ask me the best thing to study or learn to excel in politics, it is a basket of skillets that is multi and inter disciplinary with a mix of hard and soft knowledge groups. As listed they are:
---Sales
Sales forces you to look forward and forces you to deal with people in a small level. You understand their quirks but can be open to change to offer them what they need. It promotes forward thinking and adaptive actions as you are always looking to lead to the direction of closing the deal.
--Law
Not at the level to practice but at a level to know the language and formalities. It also provides strong negotiation skills. Last benefit is that legal circles contain your biggest competition and dudes who will try to fuck with you. Important to learn who your friends and enemies are.
---Marketing
This simply teaches you to understand data at a level that makes sense. You can spot patterns and trends among populations. You could swap this with any hard skill that can help you understand and look at data but marketing IMO is the one most focused on populations and people versus others that asses money or other things.
---Human Egineering
This is my field so I hold some bias. We attempt to control outcomes of propels behaviors in the physical context. We don't use fancy or complicated technical means to do this. We just wear many hats and use tools to massage people into making the right (or choose the intended ..) decisions and then use legal and political means to enforce it.
It also develops conflict management skills because any problems you a solving or preventing will always have winners and looser and groups who are not happy. With a level of empathy you can put forward solutions prior to the storm to help migrate conflict and quell concerns.
Human Egineering forces a level of empathy since you essentially control populations and how the interact, do trade, transport, etc. You can cause a lot of fucked up things if you do it poorly (see the housing projects example above). This is what the technical people messed up back in the day and crated terror dens all over the western world where they dreamed up utopian madness in labs and thought it would be the best thing for people.
---Philosophy / Logic / Critical thinking
This is more to assist you in dealing with the nerds and technocrats who will attempt to poke holes and attack what you do. Understanding reason and being able to look at and digest facts can help you navigate a world of billshit and help you fight the nerds who wI'll attack.
This also helps one to help foster a mind that can think in very large and abstract terms about the world and people. Having great ideas that are grounded in reality is a trait that very few excel at.
So...
These are my points of recommendation as somebody who may himself dive into the murky swamp of politics when I am older. You need skills that help you understand people at a very core level.
I return to the point of empathy is a important thing to have a good grasp on. Having high EQ (emotional quotient) teaches you how to massage people and deal with the best and worst of what humans offer. What game teaches men is to create a systemic approch to deal with female EQ. You end up with a toolkit and system but it is highly flexible and crafted to morph with the odd dynamics of female EQ.
More times then not men run into the hard STEMs like Egineering because they sick at EQ and have a poor ability to read people. So they perfect ways to crate systems a day solve problems that help the world move along but really do jack shit to really tap into people's core quirks and overall human nature.
--- Trump
You see Trump excel because he has been one of the very best sales and marketing men of history. Real Estate development is a muli-disciplinary industry where soft and hard skills converge.
You have to know how to make money but the ones who do well have the ability to assess and see value where others don't. They also can adapt, and excell at understanding people (and their needs) on a deep level. It also involves Empathy because at the end of the day you gotta make money but the burden of risk on your neck people trust big money on you is sky high. As well as the commitment to offer people a quality profit that they are sinking a large share of there personal wealth. On a micro level the intuition to understand the core basics of why people and what people want in a shelter is extremely important.
Trump has masterd it for the high end market better than anybody else. To the point he can sell his name to projects and not even have to build them.