I’m a professional engineer who has long been a proponent of incorporating philosophy into STEM. Everyone would benefit if scientists and engineers were trained to think more critically — to think more “philosophically” — about the social and environmental impacts of their work. This is particularly important as new technologies, like artificial intelligence, become more powerful and dangerous.

However, the opposite is also true: Everyone would benefit if students in the humanities and social sciences were trained to think more scientifically and rationally. Being exposed to a bit more science, technology, engineering, math — or even a technical trade — could help protect them from being indoctrinated by theories that are divorced from reality and that become fuel for many of the “culture wars” being fought today.

This is no small task. Everyone can’t do everything. But making a little effort to avoid staying in one’s own echo chamber — no matter the field — would go a long way.

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Note: This post was published as a letter to the editor in The New York Times in response to “NASA Could Use Some Philosophers,” by Joseph O. Chapa

Image: Mathieu Larone