“So... what are you going to do with that?”
This is the question that every SymSys major dreads. Inevitably, when someone asks what my major was in college, I’ll launch into an explanation about how the Stanford Symbolic Systems program combines computer science, philosophy and psychology to offer a humanistic perspective on technology: a “liberal arts for the digital age”, perhaps. I’ll tell them about how I combined that with music, and how taking SymSys classes fueled my interest in design, particularly human-computer interaction design. I’ll talk about my “Minds and Machines” philosophy class, my computer systems organization class and my developmental psychology class. I’ll explain the unlikely but deep connections between Chomsky and C++. Still, my conversation partner will nod along, waiting to ask what they really wanted to know all along:
“What kind of place would you work with that background?”
It’s a fair question. I just got an education worth several hundred thousand dollars and several years of my life. I appreciate education for education’s sake, but I nonetheless want my degree to translate into a career that generates value– both socially and economically– for myself and the wider world. Sure, I have things I want to do. Typically, I answer this question by saying that I want to work in audio, specifically in the design dimension of audio technology (which leads to more confused questions).
Still, I find the question misguided. As I consider my transition to professional life (which is fast approaching with my graduation from my master’s program coming up this June), I think less about what I want to do and more about who I want to be. The final chapter of Artful Design introduced the concept of a “humanist engineer”, which is “a new kind of individual, a deep hybrid between artists, engineer and humanist, a builder who can imbue human values into our creations”. I resonate deeply with this concept, and I think it encapsulates much about how I want to be both as a professional and as a person.
Artful Design lays out a few patron saints of humanist engineering, and I’d like to offer one of my own: Hildegard von Bingen. Von Bingen was a 12th century German abbess. She is known in musical circles for her chants, but she was also a visionary theologian (she quite literally had visions), medical practitioner and proto-scientific investigator. Her surviving output includes dozens of compositions, multiple religious texts and two large volumes on the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease. On a personal note, she shares the first name of one of the most important people in my own life, my Oma (grandmother in German): a shrewd nurse and dedicated homemaker, with passions for botany, art history and world travel who introduced me to “The Magic Flute” by Mozart and attended every piano recital and choir concert I performed in.
“So... what are you going to do with that?”
Great question! We’ll see.