STEM

 I had a conversation with Craig, Josh and Glenn, Xun Yi and Yan Zhou on separate occasions. Different ways of getting to a similar discussion about how SF puts on free, cool stuff for young adults and Singapore does not seem to. There are good reasons that explain why, but veering off, I also wondered about Singaporean expression of passion. Using STEM fields as an example, the most commonly cited reason why Singaporeans don't seem to express the same level of passion in it is purportedly that the "rat race" killed this passion at a young age. I can certainly agree with that, but wanted to go deeper than that too.

My brother used an example during one of his tech meetups - he said the most enthusiastic, question asking audience members tended to be foreign, while Singaporeans largely kept silent. They are, there though, right? The Singaporeans still turn up. I honestly believe, and most people would agree, Singaporeans are actually passionate for many things, but some of these are expressed (more often) and some are not (less often). On the surface, cynicism is king. We suck thumb, then complain, and anybody who doesn't is lucky, rich, old, or wayang.