I just wish they'd stop thinking of it as a funny, cute, or self-deprecating bit of humor to stand up and say "I'm no tech wizard, I can't even set my (vcr|alarm clock|mobilePhone).
Its not funny.
It should be as shameful and troubling as getting up and saying "I'm no 'student' and I don't know how to do this 'reading' thing, but here's what I think about books."
Thats kind of exaggerating the parent post's position, the congresspeople were flat out admitting they have no knowledge on the subject. He didn't say they had to be domain experts.
They _should_ have good domain knowledge on everything relevant to the proposed legislation. Its their full time job to legislate. We pay them so they can have time to focus on understanding the issues instead of treating it as secondary to their real job.
The congressman does not have to be an expert, they have to be able to become WELL INFORMED on anything in which they have policy directing power.
As an IT director I dont have to be an expert in python, ruby, networking, exchange admin, etc... That's why I hire staff who are experts in their areas. They inform me as the best direction to take.
I set the policy, understand to a certain level (rather technical, but not for example CCIE level - thats why I hire CCIEs) what each person does.
But I would never stand up at a company meeting and say "I have no clue how our firewall is configured - but I think we should block all traffic to ports 22, 80 and 25 because that seems to be where all our attacks come to. (blah blah blah port knocking blah blah blah)
I don't see techies wearing political ignorance as a cute badge of honor. When they want to restrict the rights of politicians, they learn about politics.
Do we not have a standardized org structure for the support staff of each politician:
Who is in the following roles as an aide to each congressman?
* Technology Consultant
* Foreign Policy
* Energy
* Agriculture
....
etc.
We should be able to reach out to EACH layer of aides for all of congress and say "To all the congressional technical advisors, as silicon valley reps, this is our stance on issue X"
These aides should then go to each congressman and say "this is what the tech on the street is saying" and inform them of opinion and reality.
No they assume whatever half baked idea they make up recall from reading Ayn Rynd will work in the real world.
take the widely held view that companies should have "all" their rights removed - the debate about personhood.
Do you realy want to end up with a system where any company could be taken over or shut down by political fiat - hint threes a reason Russian companies list in the UK its so they are perceived not to have the political risk.
Its not funny.
It should be as shameful and troubling as getting up and saying "I'm no 'student' and I don't know how to do this 'reading' thing, but here's what I think about books."