Spectral lines: Concerned engineers

In its scope of interests and emotional concerns, a whole profession can sometimes take on the characteristics of an individual. Individuals spend their free time pursuing activities in which they feel most comfortable and competent and in which they have an emotional investment. One person may deem it a challenge to help a neighbor select the color of a new car or the brand of a personal computer. Another may reject such talks as trivial in favor of more cosmic concerns. Likewise, the members of a profession, in aggregate, tend to define the scope of interests of the profession at large.