Have you ever heard of this joke before?
“Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling in the mud with a pig. After a couple of hours you realize the pig likes it.”
And while it is a joke, it somehow feels so true! I’m not saying we’re pigs though, haha!
Have you ever had a healthy argument with a non-engineer friend of yours? You both jab your points, facts and opinions on each other and in one point of the argument you find them already irritated, but you find yourself enjoying the conversation and want to continue? I’m sure you have your fair share of similar experiences.
It makes you wonder, why do we enjoy such arguments? Here are some reasons that could explain this.
We are naturally curious
Source: Epicstream
Engineers are well known for their natural curiosity. We like to tinker into anything and find out how things work–or why they aren’t working. We try to mix things up to see if we can improve and modify an existing design. It’s the same when we argue with a certain person. Whether it’s a topic about engineering, or any real life situation– we like to listen to what other people think so we can see different perspectives of a certain topic.
We want challenges
Source: Tenor
Engineers like to be challenged. People may hear us whine about our subjects, deadlines and grades, but deep inside we know that we love to be challenged. Take mind puzzles for example which sometimes have more than one solution. We will exhaust all the possible ways to solve that puzzle, even if the another person tells us it’s the “wrong” way.
We want proof
Source: giphy
Sometimes we want proof that our answer to a certain problem is correct. We will ask the opinion of others by letting them try to “challenge” our answer. This will lead to a series of opposing statements, wherein we hope that in the end we will be satisfied with our answers in the first place. If in the process, we are proven wrong, we will then have a new answer to prove.
We want to learn more
Engineers love to learn new things especially when it comes to topics of his/her field.
We feel more knowledgeable
At the end of any argument whether we’ve “won” or “lost”, we will always learn something.
These are just some reasons why we engineers love to argue. Do you have any more reasons you think should be in this list? Tell us in the comments!
