What's the Asymptotic Limit of Culture?

I dress slightly nicer than most people I work with. This has more to do with the fact that T-shirts and polo shirts are the norm around here then it does with me being the fashion-plate oracle of the first floor. As such I stand out at bit and occasionally take a little ribbing for always being “dressed up” (ie I can figure out buttons on a shirt). I often respond that the wardrobe is part of the computer science lifestyle I subscribe to. I’m working on starting a new stereotypical computer scientist.

My computer scientist will always carry their passport on them, because brunch in Brussels and drinks in Prague are all potential happenings of any working day. Basically I want to cross computer science with James Bond. I’ll keep all the women and drinking from James Bond but loose all the gun play and torture.

The bon vivant computer scientist has been a running joke of mine for a couple of months. Lately (for some reason) I’ve been imagining what grad school for the bon vivant computer scientist would look like….and I’ve fallen in love with my creation. I imagine a curriculum that teaches the software engineering process along side international social mores and etiquette. There might be classes like “CS-617 Design and Analysis of Martinis and Algorithms” or “CS-690 Advanced Operating Systems and Haberdashery. “ Perhaps I feel that my grad school experience is a lacking a bit of a Tim Gunn aspect.

I suspect the particular niche for my vision of computer science is not very large, but as the world’s technical workforce becomes increasingly mobile the bon vivant computer scientist can be relied on to travel to foreign countries, accomplish astonishing feats of computer science, all the while reflecting a positive professional image. Extroverts need-not-apply, private jets will be provided upon graduation.