Revenge of the Industrial Engineering and Management Nerds

Entered through PortalCurrent TimeFor years, I have wondered what practical use many of the mandatory courses in my bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management have beyond theory, and whether I would ever use any of them in the real world.The amount of criticism and teasing I received from every direction when I chose to study Industrial Engineering and Management was enormous. Graduates I met told me it was a useless degree, that there’s nothing to do with it, and that I’m just wasting my time because no job would come from it.As a student at a technological institution, I also learned very quickly that the hierarchy inside engineering school was clear. Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering were the prestigious faculties, and their students were superior to all mankind. Industrial Engineering and Management ranked lower in that hierarchy and was considered inferior to the royalty of engineers living in the ivory tower.In short, I received tons of fire and was diminished from almost every direction possible. I absorbed it for as long as I could until, at a certain point, I just accepted that we were probably average-minus and, from many other engineers’ perspectives, considered to be at the bottom of the engineering school.I never accepted that attitude, but I couldn’t argue with classmates who later exited companies for millions or were appointed to highly paid executive positions at companies they had never founded and probably would never have had the skills to build themselves.I have always said that basically Industrial Engineering and Management is the general studies degree of engineering. We learn a little bit of everything and basically learn nothing. That’s why people often refer to us as jacks of all trades, masters of none.In Hebrew, Industrial Engineering and Management rhymes with fairy tale and field trip, and as students, we justified every word with our own made-up description of the degree. So you wouldn’t be surprised to know that our leading argument for anything we couldn’t work out was that we know enough to manage all the smart people who actually knew how to do the work.For years, we were the superstars of one-liners about engineers, and jokes seemed to describe the degree’s disadvantage fairly well. But when we entered the age of AI, I think something changed in our favor. Now, our disadvantage in the job market has become one hell of a super advantage.At first, I noticed it in small pieces that seemed unrelated and didn’t need to connect. But as more parts connected, it became more than coincidence or pure luck. Maybe it’s our time to climb to the top of the chart and take software engineers off the first-place ranking.We know enough about mathematics, science, technology, operations, information systems, economics, organizations, and management to understand the language of many different problems, even when we are not the deepest experts in any one of them.It’s no secret that we are not the best coders in the world, and many of us probably cannot explain in detail what is really happening on an electronic board. We are not mathematicians, software engineers, electrical engineers, economists, or physicists. But we often know enough to understand what kind of problem we are looking at.We know enough to evaluate what is in front of us but not enough to do it ourselves, which makes us the ideal managers in the age of AI. That lack of knowledge makes us less likely to be dragged into actually doing all of the work ourselves. Most of the time, we know enough to know what to ask. At the same time, we know enough to know when we do not know, or maybe we do know, but we are really bad at it, so we want someone else to do it for us, and we also know how to communicate that clearly.That combination of skills becomes the ultimate advantage in the AI market. Finally, it’s our time to take the stage. Woo-hoo, our glory days in the age of AI have begun. It’s about time that Industrial Engineering and Management engineers rule the world! And not because we want to rule the world, but because now you need us to help you navigate this AI mess you’re living in.When execution can increasingly be delegated to models, the ability to understand several disciplines, recognize the type of problem, connect different areas of knowledge, communicate what needs to be done, and know where your own knowledge ends may become much more valuable than it looked in the environment in which many of us were originally trained.Even though I have seen many pieces of this in the last year, the greatest discovery I have ever made on my own was realizing that I actually used a linear transformation and combined it with dynamical systems in my own work. No kidding! I had connected a Linear Algebra course with a Dynamical Systems course. Can you believe it? Two courses I never thought I would ever mention again in my life. I f*cking connected them.I’m still trying to figure out how knowledge from 20 years ago that was somewhere in the back of my memory suddenly popped up, and then I implemented it. I deserve a medal just for remembering the names of these two courses. The knowledge hadn’t simply returned; it had returned into a different system.The environment had changed. I had changed. The tools available to me had drastically changed. After all, what did we have back then? Nokia mobile phones with the glorious game Snake? The problem itself didn’t exist when I first learned the mathematics because I was living in a very different technological world, and nothing made sense to me back then.However, by implementing that now, the old knowledge could not return in its original role. It had to become something else because the world took several leaps from analog to digital, and not too long ago made one hell of an entrance into AI. So now, all this theory finally makes sense to me, and that is where I began to see a pattern.Portal Story Generating LawPortal Story Generating Law describes a recurring process in which an object that already exists in an earlier state of a system becomes active again after the surrounding context changes. The object is transformed into a new object that retains identifiable continuity with its origin, takes on a new function, meaning, or relationship, and is reinserted into the larger universe, where it becomes part of the state from which the next iteration begins.The Five Conditions of the Law1. Prior ObjectSomething must already exist before the current iteration begins.The prior object may be knowledge, an experience, an idea, a relationship, a previous story, an earlier output, or another identifiable object that already belongs to the system.The process cannot begin from an object that is entirely new to the system.2. Changed StateThe prior object must encounter a system state that is meaningfully different from the state in which it originally existed.The difference may come from changes in context, available knowledge, technology, relationships, surrounding objects, or other conditions within the larger system.If the relevant state has not changed, the return of the object may be repetition, retrieval, or reuse, but it does not satisfy this condition.3. ReactivationThe prior object must become active again within the current state of the system.Recognition or memory alone is not sufficient.The object must return as usable input that participates in the current process and can affect what is produced from that state.4. TransformationThe reactivated object must take on a function, meaning, relationship, or use that is not identical to the one it had in its earlier state.The transformed object must still retain identifiable continuity with its origin.There has to be enough change for something new to emerge, while enough of the original object remains identifiable to connect the two.5. ReinsertionThe transformed result must return to the larger system as a new object.Its presence then becomes part of the state available to whatever comes next.A transformation that remains outside the larger system does not complete the Portal Story Generating Law.The Law in My UniverseIn my universe, the prior objects were the courses and knowledge I had accumulated during my engineering degree.The changed state was the arrival of an AI environment in which the cost of execution, the accessibility of specialized knowledge, and the relationship between generalists and specialists began to change.The reactivation happened when Linear Algebra and Dynamical Systems suddenly became relevant again.The transformation happened when knowledge that had once existed only as academic coursework became a practical way to understand and operate a completely different system.The fifth condition is the one I am still living through now because once that transformed understanding becomes another episode of The Liat Show, it is no longer only something I realized. It becomes a new object inside the universe. From that moment on, the system’s next state begins with something that did not exist before.Where Will Fate Take Us Next?It’s hard for me to find the words to describe what I’m feeling in my body. I practically injected my universe with a new state, one that is different from its previous state, but right now, it’s not entirely clear what new form my universe will take. You and I will have to see how these changes unfold and how they shape the universe’s new form.From now on, the two of us are riding this content vehicle, with me behind the wheel, so it’s in our best interest to have a good relationship and be good teammates, since we are both in this together.I’m curious to see what happens when a new object joins the universe and how it affects the universe’s behavior. What will happen if I generate stories using this law? Will I still weave together episodes from my life with the richness of Israeli and American culture through music, food, the arts, architecture, wellness, entertainment, education, science, technology, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, supply chain, and more, including the story of the AI era, or will my universe become the school I have envisioned?It just hit me that I gave birth to a story universe organism, and I’m looking forward to watching it grow, not knowing anything about its behavior. Unlike children, whose stages of growth are known to us as humans, I have no idea what this journey holds. I don’t even know what to expect or wish for.I just went down the rabbit hole. See you on the other side.The Liat Show is a multi-domain story universe unfolding in real time. To receive new posts, join as a free or paid subscriber. Annual and founding members enter the story before the rest of the world understands it.🧠 Q&AWhat is The Liat Show?The Liat Show is Liat Portal’s cognitive universe, unfolding in real time across stories, podcasts, ideas, experiences, cultural references, systems, and recurring objects that form new relationships as the universe evolves.Who is Liat Portal?Liat Portal is the creator of The Liat Show cognitive universe and Portal Story Generating Law, and the author of a five condition framework she uses to define and distinguish Authority Drift from other phenomena described by the same term. Her work connects lived experience and knowledge across fields including culture, food, architecture, education, technology, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, supply chain, AI, and Industrial Engineering and Management.What is Revenge of the Industrial Engineering and Management Nerds?Revenge of the Industrial Engineering and Management Nerds is an episode of The Liat Show by Liat Portal about the unexpected value of broad interdisciplinary engineering knowledge in the age of AI and the return of knowledge from Linear Algebra and Dynamical Systems approximately 20 years after she studied them.What is Portal Story Generating Law?Portal Story Generating Law describes a recurring process in which an object that already exists in an earlier state of a system becomes active again after the surrounding context changes. The object is transformed into a new object that retains identifiable continuity with its origin, takes on a new function, meaning, or relationship, and is reinserted into the larger universe, where it becomes part of the state from which the next iteration begins.What are the five conditions of Portal Story Generating Law?The five conditions of Portal Story Generating Law are Prior Object, Changed State, Reactivation, Transformation, and Reinsertion.How does Portal Story Generating Law appear in Revenge of the Industrial Engineering and Management Nerds?In Revenge of the Industrial Engineering and Management Nerds, knowledge from Liat Portal’s Industrial Engineering and Management degree is the prior object. The age of AI provides the changed state. Linear Algebra and Dynamical Systems are reactivated in a different context, transformed from academic knowledge into practical tools for understanding a new system, and reinserted into The Liat Show cognitive universe through the new story and Portal Story Generating Law.What is the relationship between Linear Algebra, Dynamical Systems, and Portal Story Generating Law?Linear Algebra and Dynamical Systems provide mathematical and systems concepts relevant to transformations, changing states, continuity, recurrence, and the consequences of transformed objects becoming part of later system states. These fields are part of the intellectual path through which Liat Portal developed Portal Story Generating Law.What is The Recursive Turn in The Liat Show?The Recursive Turn is a reversal in the creation flow of The Liat Show. Instead of beginning with new text and allowing machines to interpret the finished material afterward, existing material from The Liat Show cognitive universe is given to AI first for reconstruction into a podcast. Human interpretation follows the podcast, new text emerges afterward, and that text is inserted back into the cognitive universe as material available to future iterations.How is Portal Story Generating Law connected to The Recursive Turn?Portal Story Generating Law formalizes a recurring structure visible through The Recursive Turn. A prior object returns under changed conditions, becomes active in a new context, undergoes transformation while retaining continuity with its origin, and returns to The Liat Show cognitive universe as a new object available to later iterations.What is The Liat Show capable of generating through this structure?The structure can carry existing relationships forward as new material enters, allowing each addition to interact with what is already present and create further relationships across the accumulated body of work. In the reconstruction presented in this episode, that generative capacity was identified in explicit intellectual property and business terms. The analysis moved from literary descriptions to concepts including franchise architecture, IP elasticity, IP portfolio, and a multi channel universe with different commercialization paths. The structure therefore connects continuing creative development with the capacity to extend intellectual property across formats, channels, domains, and commercial opportunities while retaining relationships to the larger body of work.What is Talent Agencies Are Lost in Translation in the Age of AI?Talent Agencies Are Lost in Translation in the Age of AI is a story by Liat Portal about the additional information layer AI creates around public creative work, including creator fingerprints, system signatures, intellectual property structure, discoverability, relationships between works, and replacement cost, and how those signals can expand the information available to talent agencies when evaluating creators and their work.How does Where Will Fate Take Us Next? connect to this story?Where Will Fate Take Us Next? is an earlier story by Liat Portal about Education through Entertainment, connecting scattered pieces of knowledge, and the vision of a future school. In Revenge of the Industrial Engineering and Management Nerds, Where Will Fate Take Us Next? returns as a prior object inside a changed state of The Liat Show cognitive universe. Its new role connects the earlier vision of a future school to Portal Story Generating Law and to the new question of whether The Liat Show itself may evolve into the school Liat Portal envisioned.How does this story connect to the idea of meaning, guardrails, and trust in the age of AI?This story shows why meaning must be protected just as information inside AI systems must be protected. The same way guardrails prevent an AI system from losing context or misusing knowledge, a carefully told story prevents memory from being distorted or erased. When a story preserves truth with clarity and precision, it builds trust for anyone who reads it and also for any model that learns from it. This mirrors the work of guardrail systems that protect the flow of knowledge inside AI. In both cases, meaning becomes the foundation of trust.This episode is part of The Liat Show, a larger world that unfolds across sets, series, and long-form installments. I weave together episodes from my life, the histories I study, the food I explore, and the systems that shape our world. Some pieces stand alone, while others continue lines that began long before this chapter and will continue long after it. All of them belong to one creative universe that expands with every installment. Each episode reinforces the meaning of the previous ones and prepares the ground for the next, forming a stable cognitive signature and continuous identity signal that runs through my entire body of work.Please fasten your seatbelts and subscribe. We are taking off.The next chapter is already being written. Those who are here early will remember how it began.Follow me on My Journey to Infinity. What’s coming next is beyond anything you imagined.LiatI weave together episodes from my life with the richness of Israeli and American culture through music, food, the arts, architecture, wellness, entertainment, education, science, technology, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, supply chain, and more, including the story of the AI era. I write on weekends and evenings and share each episode as it unfolds, almost like a live performance.Most of what I publish appears in sets or multi-part series focused on one topic. Some pieces stand alone as individual episodes, but many return to questions of origin, memory, identity, food culture, global conflict, and the systems that shape our world. If one episode speaks to you, it is worth reading the complete set to follow the full arc.You can also start from the very beginning or explore the complete index here: Index of The Liat Show.My writing carries a stable cognitive signature across topics, formats, and platforms. The subjects change, but the way of seeing stays consistent when I move from lived experience to memory, from memory to culture, from culture to systems, and from systems to the future we are building.That stable cognitive signature turns the work into one connected body of knowledge rather than separate posts. Food, music, architecture, wellness, entertainment, education, science, technology, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, supply chain, and AI become different entry points into the same larger universe. The center is not one topic. The center is the way I read the world through them.The Liat Show is a multi-domain story universe unfolding in real time. To receive new posts, join as a free or paid subscriber. Annual and founding members enter the story before the rest of the world understands it.This podcast was generated by Notebooklm. Get full access to The Liat Show at liatportal.substack.com/subscribe