Why computer engineering is like standup comedy: Wayne Cotter at TEDxRainier
Summary
TLDRIn this engaging talk, the speaker reflects on their career transition from computer engineer to stand-up comedian, emphasizing the creative synergy between the two fields. They recount a childhood experience at the New York World's Fair, where a bell curve demonstration inspired them to see patterns in randomness. Drawing parallels, they argue that both engineers and comedians analyze complex systems to reveal underlying truths or humor. The speaker also challenges stereotypes, like the notion that math is a masculine domain, and uses humor to dissect societal norms and pseudoscience, ultimately advocating for a broader perspective that embraces the full spectrum of human potential.
Takeaways
- 🎓 The speaker transitioned from a career as a computer engineer to a stand-up comedian, challenging the notion of contradiction between the two fields.
- 📊 A childhood experience at the New York World's Fair, where the speaker was fascinated by a bell curve demonstration, influenced their perspective on patterns and randomness.
- 🧠 The speaker believes that both engineers and comedians analyze patterns and inconsistencies to understand the world, albeit in different contexts.
- 📚 A deep interest in numbers and mathematics was a constant in the speaker's life, even as a child, which later influenced their comedic style.
- 💼 The speaker's experience working as an engineer was formative, comparing the complexity of computers to a 'mega probability machine'.
- 🎭 The creative process for the speaker was the same whether working on engineering or comedy, suggesting a commonality in the creative juices that fuel both fields.
- 🚀 The speaker humorously points out stereotypes about engineers and comedians, emphasizing the diversity and creativity within the tech industry.
- 🌐 The speaker critiques societal pigeonholing, likening it to the bell curve's average, which often oversimplifies the vast range of human potential.
- 👧 The speaker addresses gender stereotypes in math and technology, recounting a study about American high school girls and their perception of math as a masculine quality.
- 🌟 The speaker uses humor to highlight the absurdity in certain scientific and pseudoscientific claims, such as crop circles being messages from aliens.
- 🔍 The speaker concludes by advocating for a broader view that looks for patterns and combinations in life, inspired by the bell curve machine's demonstration of order in randomness.
Q & A
What was the speaker's career change in the 1980s?
-The speaker changed careers from being a computer engineer to a stand-up comedian in the 1980s.
What significant event from the speaker's childhood influenced their perspective on patterns?
-The speaker was deeply influenced by an exhibit at the New York World's Fair when they were 9 years old, which demonstrated the bell curve using a mechanical machine that dropped balls through a grid of pegs.
Who invented the bell curve machine that the speaker found fascinating?
-The bell curve machine was invented by Charles and Ray Eames.
How did the speaker's experience with the bell curve machine at the fair impact their thinking?
-The experience made the speaker realize that patterns could be discerned from randomness by viewing things differently, a concept applicable to both engineering and comedy.
What was the speaker's childhood hobby related to numbers?
-The speaker had a hobby of memorizing pi to 50 places and looking up numbers in the dictionary.
Why did the speaker decide to quit their day job as an engineer?
-The speaker found that they couldn't be creative for programming during the day and then be funny at night due to the same creative energy being used for both pursuits.
What was the stereotype the speaker faced when transitioning from engineering to comedy?
-The stereotype was that the speaker went from being a nerdy, loser engineer to a fabulous TV comedian, which the speaker felt was an oversimplification and not reflective of their peers in the engineering field.
What did the speaker criticize about the way people pigeonhole others based on stereotypes?
-The speaker criticized that pigeonholing people based on stereotypes limits the view of the vast possibilities of what someone could be, reducing them to an average that doesn't represent the full range of their capabilities.
What example did the speaker give to illustrate the commonality between engineers and comedians?
-The speaker explained that both engineers and comedians analyze complex situations, breaking them down into parts to understand how they fit together, with comedians focusing on the inconsistencies, contradictions, and paradoxes that emerge.
How did the speaker use their engineering background in their comedy?
-The speaker often started with a science question or concept in their comedy, such as questioning the logic behind certain medical procedures or pseudoscientific claims like crop circles.
What message did the speaker convey about stereotypes and their evolution over time?
-The speaker conveyed that stereotypes are temporary and can change, as evidenced by the shift in perception of computer programmers from being seen as boring to being admired figures like Bill Gates.
Outlines
😀 From Engineer to Comedian: Embracing Creativity
The speaker recounts their transition from a computer engineer to a stand-up comedian in the 1980s. They emphasize that there is no inherent contradiction between these two fields, as both require a creative approach to problem-solving. The speaker shares a childhood memory of visiting the New York World's Fair and being fascinated by a mechanical demonstration of the bell curve, which illustrated the concept of patterns emerging from randomness. This experience inspired the speaker to see the world differently and to appreciate the patterns and combinations that can be found in various pursuits, including engineering and comedy.
🤔 Challenging Stereotypes: The Intersection of Engineering and Comedy
The speaker discusses the stereotypes associated with engineers and comedians, highlighting the creativity and humor present among their colleagues in the tech industry. They argue against pigeonholing people based on their professions, using the bell curve as a metaphor for the narrow view that stereotypes create. The speaker also addresses a study about American high school girls and math, suggesting that societal perceptions can influence individuals' choices and self-perceptions. They explain how engineers break down complex systems into smaller parts to understand how they work, which is similar to how comedians find humor in life's inconsistencies and contradictions. The speaker uses personal anecdotes and examples, such as the process of amniocentesis and the pseudoscience of crop circles, to illustrate their points and to challenge the audience to think beyond stereotypes.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Standup Comedian
💡Visionary
💡Bell Curve
💡Randomness
💡Mainframe
💡Amniocentesis
💡Stereotypes
💡Pigeonhole
💡Paradoxes
💡Patterns
💡Probability Machine
Highlights
The speaker transitioned from a computer engineer to a standup comedian in the 1980s, seeing no inherent contradiction between the two fields.
A childhood experience at the New York World's Fair with a bell curve demonstration had a profound impact on the speaker's perspective on patterns within randomness.
The speaker's fascination with numbers and jokes began early, including memorizing pi and exploring numerical definitions in dictionaries.
The speaker's career as an engineer involved working with mainframe computers, which they likened to a 'mega probability machine'.
The creative process for both engineering and comedy was found to be fueled by the same 'Creative Juice', highlighting the overlap in creative pursuits.
The speaker's transition to full-time comedy involved舍弃 a stable engineering job for the unpredictable world of standup, emphasizing the risk and passion involved.
Media narratives often simplified the speaker's journey, focusing on the 'nerd to celebrity' trope, which the speaker critiques for its lack of depth.
The speaker challenges stereotypes by pointing out the creativity and personality of their former engineering colleagues, countering the 'boring engineer' stereotype.
The analogy of the bell curve is used to critique societal tendencies to pigeonhole people into narrow categories, missing the breadth of human potential.
A study on American high school girls and math is mentioned to discuss how societal perceptions can influence individual interests and abilities.
The speaker's comedy often starts with a scientific question, demonstrating the intersection of humor and technical analysis.
An example joke about amniocentesis and cell multiplication is shared, illustrating how the speaker finds humor in scientific processes.
The speaker discusses the absurdity of crop circle theories, using humor to critique pseudoscientific beliefs.
The speaker reflects on how societal views on professions like computer programming have evolved, from 'boring' to 'sexy'.
The conclusion emphasizes finding patterns and combinations in life's complexities as a way to simplify and understand the world better.
Transcripts
[Music]
when I was in my 20s I changed careers
from computer engineer to standup
comedian it was the 1980s and I decided
I'm a Visionary I could see the future
this whole computer thing is going
nowhere but you know for a long time
I've had to answer to a lot of folks who
feel that there's some kind of inherent
contradiction between those two Pursuits
and I don't think there is so if you'll
indulge me I'd like to talk a little bit
about why I'm going to start with a
story from when I was 9 years old and my
grandmother took me to the New York
World's Fair they had an exhibit there
was part of the IBM Pavilion that
demonstrated the bell curve the gaussian
distribution mechanically there's I have
a picture of the machine which is a
brilliant thing that was invented by
Charles and Ray eem uh it dropped 30,000
balls from the top through this grid of
pegs and each ball in each row would
bounce randomly left or right and when
they all collected at the bottom every
time they would form a perfect bell
curve and match the line you see painted
on the front there and this just blew my
little
mind I could not be dragged away here we
are at this giant fair and there's rides
and shows and food and my grandmother is
stuck with this creepy obsessed
child who will not be torn away from the
math
machine but I honestly it was a it was a
it was like a life-changing thing for me
it really was and and I I I I would
focus in you know like on one little
ball and watch it just be completely
random and then I'd kind of zoom out and
see that every time there was this
pattern to it and it it made me realize
that you could make sense out of
something by looking at it in a
different way and I think that's
something that that engineers and
comedians both
do okay are you with me so far
okay the numbers and jokes have always
been a part of my life from the time I
was a kid I was memorizing piie to 50
places and Bill Cosby albums you know
it's just and you can infer from the
time commitment that took I didn't have
a massive social life at the time I uh I
I looked up numbers in the dictionary I
just thought numbers were I looked up
just to see what would the dictionary
say and I found the word 50 f i f t y
it's in there the definition was three
words 5 *
10 now you don't know what 50 is what
kind of help is 5 time
10 you look up 49 it'll say C50 subtract
one in any event I did grow up to become
an engineer I went to work for a
Mainframe manufacturer in New Jersey and
which was
fantastic it was M it was like oz to me
I got to play with these giant computers
it was like the ultimate mega
probability machine it was fantastic I
was in fact I have a picture I think
this is from like 1979 or 1980 if we can
get there let's see yes that's it that's
me and my
group you can kind of play where's Waldo
with this and try to figure out who I am
the the clue is there's no female in
that
picture
I uh little Randomness going on with the
hair there too I
think yeah it was
uh I was a I was a very early version of
the crazy programmer I was you know
socially awkward hyper caffeinated
pulling allight coding marathons and
basically kind of Mark Zuckerberg
without the money if you want to think
of it that way and uh I and but I
started Moonlighting as a as a comic I
was going out and let's get rid of that
oh my
God I started going out and and I I was
doing my engineering job by day and
going out at night and trying to tell
jokes and what I discovered it was and
it was surprising to me uh the it was
the same I couldn't do both at once
because it was the same Creative Juice
that was fueling both of these things
I'd squeeze that lemon so hard all day
doing programming I couldn't get out and
and be funny at night so I quit my day
job became a comedian did all the TV
shows next thing you know I'm touring
all over the place and in every town I
would do these interviews and every time
they wanted to write the exact same
story which was you know nerd loser
engineer blossoms into fabulous TV
comedian it's impossible how can that be
it's so crazy it's it's ugly duckling
it's a caterpillar a butterfly it just
couldn't
be and I having no character at all
played right along well I looked around
the office and I realized I was the only
one with a
personality you
know which is you know it's a cheap joke
and and it's just not true the people I
work with were creative and smart and
funny and great you know and and I think
when we pigeon hole people like that it
makes me think of the bell curve again
because you take the the distribution of
possibilities of everything somebody
could be we collapse it down to this one
thing that's the average in the middle
we decide that's our answer and we move
on and more often than not just
mathematically even we're just wrong and
I think it affects the way we we see
ourselves and the way we see other
people there was a story about uh there
was a study it was like I think it was
in 2007 it got a lot of attention about
American High School girls and math and
they said that the girls weren't
pursuing math in United States as much
as in other countries and as much as the
boys because they felt that being good
at math was a masculine in quality it's
that same stereotype and by the way I
would have loved to have known that
because I was in high school I was
amazing at
math I don't recall any girl ever
expressing any idea that she felt it was
a masculine quality I'll just
say but if I could I would go back to
those same reporters and try to give
them the the real answer to the question
why why is an engineer and a comedian
what what do they have in common and the
truth is an engineer if you think of
about it they take a big complicated
thing like a airplane or a bridge or a
computer and they break it down into its
little parts and they break the parts
down into little parts and they figure
out kind of how everything fits together
and meshes and jibes and when you apply
that kind of analysis to life and the
world what falls out is the
inconsistencies and contradictions and
paradoxes and those are the jokes and
much of what I do I'm often starting off
with a science question when my wife was
pregnant we uh we had to have the
amniocentesis and I asked the doctor
well how does this work I have a
background in science they explained to
me he said well we get some cells we
grow them in a dish when we have enough
of them we can tell the baby's going to
be okay I said how long does that take
and he said I swear to God 14 business
[Applause]
days and what kind of a cell takes the
weekend off from
multiplying oh I'm sorry it's Veterans
Day the banks are closed there's no my
Tois on a day like
[Applause]
this and pseudo science stuff is ripe
for this kind of and I love to go after
these the crop circle thing if you look
at that you know the story big pattern
crunched into into a corn field in
England and what people believe is that
it it's it's got to be
aliens they actually if you look at it
they they will say it's the pattern is
so big you can see it from space they're
leaving each other
messages this is what they messages
is this remotely plausible do we have to
think that much further what are the
Chan this is a race of advanced alien
superbeings who have mastered
Intergalactic hyperdimensional space
travel and communicate by
corn they just cannot get the Blackberry
thing
together so you know I let me just say
this those stereotypes that I'm talking
about I think these things are ephemeral
and the proof is look at how it's
changed the time that I quit my job to
go be a comedian at that time being a
computer programmer was the dumbest
boringest you the computer who needs
that why some boring stupid thing you're
going to be a comedian really what's
that how do you do that where you going
to go how do you how does that happen
you going to go on the Johnny Carson
show tell me more today Bill Gates is
the sexiest man
alive and when you say I'm a comedian
people go oh yeah my sister's ex-husband
did that for a little
while so just I'll leave you with this
what I think I learned from the
probability machine is that if you if
you want to simplify
things instead of limiting your
view the best way the fun way is to find
the patterns and the combinations that
naturally occur when you look at all the
possibilities thank you very much
[Applause]
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