Archimedes of Syracuse was a clever guy. He had some glorious facial hair and many ideas. He invented lenses and screws amongst countless other devices. You could argue that he was the OG engineer (long before Leonardo of Florence)

Archimedes was quite frail. He had 3% body fat but no muscles to show for it. So the ladies of Syracuse were unimpressed. They were used to the beastly upper-body musculature common amongst ancient Greeks. So after the Eureka incident where he ran off naked in the streets and got exposed, he needed a way to rekindle their affection for him. He wasn't smart enough to make it in philosophy like Pythagoras, so he became an engineer instead 😂. It worked. The people embraced him for his wealth and brilliance. He was the top G of Sicily circa 250 BC.

Archimedes would draw things and then go to the local Fablab to bring them to life. He would try them out, figure out what works and what doesn't, and keep improving his inventions until they made sense.

He didn't have a master's degree in engineering. That's why it didn't occur to him that he couldn't design as well. So he did his own design and was pretty good at it. One might argue that he was the original designer (long before Leonardo of Florence)

Archimedes lived in wiser times when the division of labor produced property, not useless hyper-specialized cookie cutters. Surprisingly, he didn't have an eye for design. Historians believe that he did not know engineering when he made it out of the womb. But he really needed to make some money to bankroll his costly drinking habits. This led him to make an effort and learn. He wasn't particularly industrious, but Facebook wasn't hiring at the time so the only way to do things was the right way.

When the Romans invaded, they appointed a new Governor. Moronius was his name. He had an MBA from Syracuse and 16k followers. Because of his silly educational background, he didn't really understand how the world works, much less have sensible views or appreciate those of others. He was always trying to "optimize" things as they did in the army. Romans gonna Rome, amirite?

So one day, he asked Archimedes: "Tell me Greek, are you really an engineer or just a designer? Tell me now so that I know if I need to pay you 37% less" ( too real? 😂).

To which Archimedes bravely replied: "I don't know what you're talking about, bruh. I just make things"

Archimedes died for his blasphemous ideas. Ancient Romans couldn't appreciate the simple elegance of his ways. They could only see the world in infantry and cavalry. Thankfully, in the twenty-first century, we no longer kill people for comingling professions. But we still don't like it. I guess Moronius still roams free amongst us 🙃 🍉.

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33141463