The False Economy Principle

Engineering students start with such optimism! They enter as bright-eyed Luke Skywalkers, ready to harness the mystical powers of calculus and physics. Fast forward to senior year—they've fully embraced the dark side, looking like Kylo Ren begging for sweet release from differential equations and senior design projects. The transformation from "I want to learn the ways of the Force" to "I want to be free of this pain" is basically what happens when you realize those 8 AM thermodynamics classes were actually the easy part. The engineering curriculum doesn't just teach you mechanics; it teaches you suffering.

Engineering professors really be out here modeling humans as spring-mass-damper systems! That diagram transforms a perfectly normal human into a mechanical nightmare with "stiff elasticity" spinal columns and eyeballs that apparently need their own springs. Next semester they'll probably explain how your morning coffee is actually a non-Newtonian fluid dynamics problem with thermal constraints. Meanwhile, biology professors are just sitting back watching engineers turn people into glorified shock absorbers. 😂

The engineering student's paradox in full display. Tell someone you study engineering and suddenly they expect you to be the next Einstein, while you're just trying to remember if you turned in that fluid mechanics assignment. The crushing weight of everyone's expectations versus the reality of struggling through differential equations at 2 AM fueled by nothing but energy drinks and shattered dreams. Engineering: where you learn enough to know exactly how little you actually know.

Nuclear chads vs renewable virgins! This meme perfectly captures the energy debate that's heating up faster than our climate. The top shows the renewable energy enthusiast's dilemma - sobbing because they want AC but the sun decided to take a nap and their batteries are as dead as my will to attend department meetings. Meanwhile, the nuclear enjoyer at the bottom is living his best life with reliable power that doesn't throw a tantrum when clouds appear. The "I don't care" energy radiating from nuclear guy is stronger than the actual radiation from a properly shielded reactor. And yes, thorium reactors would make this even more savage - they produce less waste and can't melt down like their uranium cousins. Nuclear power: keeping your beer cold and your memes spicy 24/7/365.

That moment when your mechanical engineering friend's autocorrect reveals their true lab horrors! What they MEANT was "My brothers in Christ we cooked a CULTURE in an autoclave" but their phone had other ideas. Sterilizing equipment: normal science procedure. Sterilizing someone's pet: straight to lab safety jail! This is why you should never text while your hands are still covered in agar!

Engineers exist in two simultaneous quantum states: too busy to explain why you're wrong AND absolutely compelled to correct you. It's Schrödinger's ego—they'll interrupt their own interruption just to make sure you know exactly how incorrect you are. The engineering brain physically cannot allow an error to exist in the wild. Nature abhors a vacuum; engineers abhor an uncorrected mistake.