Saturday, March 05, 2016

[ndvdkuad] Difficulties of being a hobbyist

Enumerate the difficulties, especially artificial regulatory difficulties, of being a hobbyist in various fields.  For mechanical engineering (e.g., wood working) and agriculture (gardening), seemingly not very much.

Nuclear engineering is extremely highly regulated.  Chemistry also; many chemical vendors will refuse to sell certain chemicals to individuals.

Computer science seemingly has few barriers against hobbyists, especially thanks to the free software movement.  Computer science might see some barriers erected in the near future, perhaps to control access to AI as a tool deemed too powerful for ordinary people, akin to regulating chemistry or nuclear science.  There are currently some barriers to entry around proprietary or poorly documented APIs that you need to find a person to explain it to you.  Hobbyist computer scientists might be denied access to such people or information.

Mathematics similarly has seemingly low barrier to entry for hobbyists, though again the problem of poor documentation.

Is the relative ease or difficulty for hobbyists in line with the kinds of fields the labor market is demanding?  Hobbies often become careers, and education of children often resembles a hobbyist pursuit.

Previously, increasing access to chemistry.

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