Here's something I think about a lot: of these three traits, which is the least desirable? I have gone in circles for several years now and run the proverbial gamut, befriending people with these three traits (often several, actually.) I always ask myself: is it better to be kind and dumb or be intelligent, yet callous?
If I subscribed to the "agent" philosophy of personal relationships, I would most likely never befriend people of the third type₁, since they seldom have skills to offer (at least at first glance), interestingly enough, one of my better and "more useful" friends is both type one and two. This particular friend is politically misguided (to a... (read 666 more words →)
I believe that you are correct in your observations regarding graduate level education. Allow me to offer my experiences in undergrad engineering:
In my undergraduate experience, I was of the opinion that a lot of professors simply didn't bother to put in any effort. Countless times I would visit a professor's office to be met with the physical manifestation of executive functioning deficits. Frankly, I expected better from professors who required that their students stay on top of 18 credit hours of engineering courses every semester. I sometimes would hope that this double standard was, in fact, malicious. At lest then I could still maintain that these professors were intelligent, albeit aloof (a... (read 505 more words →)
I could see this working in a joint venture type of situation, but it fundamentally conflicts with the "work to live" philosophy. If I was a member of a research team in my profession (Mechanical Engineering) and this situation was proposed for a R&D group, I would adamantly oppose it. Collaborative working, in my experience, is inefficient. It makes much more sense to compartmentalize work, then upon completion, combine modules into a finished product. A certain amount of communication is required, but the process in not encumbered with meetings and group discussions. A fully collaborative organization, to me, presents a clear end-of-line scenario for my employment with any company.
I have noticed that,... (read more)
Reversible/Carnot cycles in heat engines are a theoretical model that describe a system with perfect efficiency within each of the cycles. The Carnot heat engine is a model used in Thermodynamics 1 to introduce heat engines to students. The point of this is to allow students to focus on the four constituent cycles of the heat engine without worrying about tracking inefficiencies. It is, of course, impossible to design a heat engine that is operating at perfect efficiency with perfect reversibility.
Your are correct in your assumption that the Carnot cycle is just a distillation of the core principles of heat engines. Because of this, the Carnot model also helps at a higher... (read more)