The marketing SVP I was sitting next to leaned close and whispered “what’s stem?” He seemed a little hesitant to admit that he didn’t know what the term meant to the rest of the table, but as everyone was busy arguing about AI and robots replacing all of our jobs someday soon, he saw an opening and took a chance. The term had bounced back and forth across the table a few times: Stem this and stem that. Was it a biotech thing? Genetic-engineering jobs? (Because stem cells, I expect.) Some kind of government tech education program? “S.T.E.M.,” I said. “Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.” “Ohhhhh,” he replied with