If Engineers were in charge?

[SpyderEdgeForever]

This may interest you all, I'd appreciate all feedback on it.


I had a discussion going with a very cool engineer (specializing in architecture and metals) and he told me that, in his view of things, the engineers of the world, such as himself, and others (in all fields) should be the ones in charge and in control of politics, money, and the world's resources, and if that were the case, the world would be far better and far more advanced, and life would be a lot better across the board for all people, engineers and nonengineers alike. I asked him to sortof elaborate and tell me more and here are some of what he said:

1 He said that the aerospace and NASA engineers themselves had made clever and well-thought out plans for how to get man into space.
The problem, he said, was that the politicians were in control (both democrat and republican) and were more interested in short-term news-making space activity, instead of long-term get-humans-into-space type stuff. The plan by the engineers was to build space stations in orbit that harness solar power and near earth asteroid materials and use that to bootstrap get to the Moon and build bases and an industry on the Moon which we would then use to get to Mars and from Mars expand into the rest of the solar system, and from there into the universe...and THROUGH THE WHOLE THING the people of Earth would all benefit from a steady flow of cheap strong metals and materials from asteroids and the Lunar mining; ie,

gold, platinum group metals, steel of the best quality, cheap Solar Power Sattelite based energy and new medicines and a range of goods would be flowing into the world back on Earth.

He said the POLITICIANS and citizens ignorant of the wealth of the universe available for us screwed this up.

2 Engineers like Buckminster Fuller could have, IF they had been in charge of the world's resources and money, domed over cities (like I was mentioning in another thread) and made cities and metropolitan areas more efficient, instead of allowing special interest groups and political game playing to interfere with it, and, he said the engineers like himself are more qualified than non engineer citizens to make these decisions.

That was the main gist of what he was saying and I could go on but I'll stop here and I'd like your views here, both engineers and non engineer people alike.

One last thing, in regards to knives and cutting tools. I asked him his view on this and he said what really irks him and gets on his nerves is how the global knife market is subject to personal whims of "Non Engineering Minded people" who hamstring the knife-designers from continuing to produce great knives. I said "What do you mean by that??" and he gave me an example, with SPYDERCO in particular: He said Spyderco is one of the best knife companies as far as edged tools/knives go, and he just cannot get over the sad fact of a populace of people who want "fancy flashly blades they see in movies" instead of hard core working knife designs, like the Delica and Lady Bug. I didn't get exactly what he meant by this, perhaps someone else can give an insight based on what I said?

Thanks

[MichaelScott]

Sounds like an engineer.

[OldHoosier62]

ROTFLMAO.....I have nothing to say that wouldn't result in at least a few days "vacation" from the forum.

(For the record...I have worked with MANY engineers in the defense, firearm and automotive industries in the past 30+ years.)

[bdblue]

I am a structural engineer. I have worked on various types of construction projects but mostly I work on commercial, institutional and government buildings. In our industry the engineers almost always are hired as a consultant to the architects. In simplistic terms this works like the OP said- the engineer is trying to come up with a simple and efficient building, the architect is trying to come up with a design that is at least interesting, and maybe they are trying to create a work of art. Take a simple building try to make it interesting and artistic and it isn't simple anymore. So the challenge we face as engineers is to make the more complicated buildings work. I like projects that are simple and direct and where the structure is easy to make perform the way it wants to, but I recognize that eventually what we design is covered up by the architecture of the building and the users of the building really don't care about how easy or hard it was for the structural engineer to do their work.

A lot of products have some element of design associated with them. Another thing a lot of us might know about are the products made by Apple. Steve Jobs had a lot of bad characteristics but he wanted to produce products that had a refined design. I'm sure the engineers had to work hard to make his designs work.

In terms of knives, I read where people say that Spyderco knives are not "pretty". But Spyderco knives are made for the hand and not for they eye, they are made to function well and not look pretty. Their beauty is in the way they work. Put an artist or designer in charge of the design of the knives and they might become prettier but might not work as well.

[SpyderNut]

Well... at least it would certainly make things interesting. :D

[noseoil]

I work in the construction industry as a roof truss estimator. I deal with architects & engineers fairly regularly on roof systems. While some are good at what they do, many lack real-world experience and make decisions based on theory or overly complicated assessments, which would be better if they have had to work hands-on in the fields in which they toil. Some are excellent and have a very deep & thorough understanding of their fields, others are worthless, talkative & deal mostly in theory & abstracts.

"Take a simple building try to make it interesting and artistic and it isn't simple anymore. So the challenge we face as engineers is to make the more complicated buildings work."

Not to mention people who must actually implement these considerations and make the building. Allowing engineers to run an economic system would be insane, as many of them have no concept of real-world cost analysis.

[wrdwrght]

If engineers were in charge, all problems would be attributed to cockpit error.

[demoncase]

In my experience with engineers- They are great until you ask them to qualify an opinion or ask a question-

Then the answer will be "Hmm....We need more data". :D

[ChrisinHove]

Let me think....

Brutalist architecture in efficient concrete,
Efficiently produced cars that everyone can afford,
Production engineering methods in farms and farming communities,
.....

Best left there, I think!

[demoncase]

Let me think....

Brutalist architecture in efficient concrete,
Efficiently produced cars that everyone can afford,
Production engineering methods in farms and farming communities,
.....

Best left there, I think!

Double plus good, Comrade

[Donut]

I'd like to hear how he thinks we would sustain oxygen or an atmosphere on those planets.

I think it would be nice to attempt it.

[bdblue]

I'd like to hear how he thinks we would sustain oxygen or an atmosphere on those planets.

You need one of those things that they had in the movie "Aliens", but without the aliens.

[demoncase]

I'd like to hear how he thinks we would sustain oxygen or an atmosphere on those planets.

You need one of those things that they had in the movie "Aliens", but without the aliens.

So that's one Weyland-Yutani atmosphere processor to go, hold the xenomorphs, right?

[C_Claycomb]

I am an engineer, and what I hear coming through rather strongly from the OP's friend is the classic engineer not understanding, or appreciating, people as much as they do machinery . Engineers typically are more interested in whether things work than whether they are nice to look at, or popular. Mind you, I have had plenty of arguments with other engineers who want to make things look pretty rather than finish projects within manager's time and budgets.

China has a lot of engineers in positions of power. They have achieved incredible advances and rapid success, but often at a human cost that would be unacceptable in the US or much of Europe.

I think a lot of things would be better with more engineers involved, especially since engineers can be found in such a wide range of fields with a wide range of skills, not just the borderline autistic specifications gimp that gets wheeled out of the back room when a particularly challenging problem needs solving. BUT, a system run entirely by engineers would be doomed eventually because of the lack of understanding of people and social dynamics.

All things in moderation.

Chris

[OldHoosier62]

LOL....I thought this appropriate for this thread. Found it elsewhere today.

Understanding Engineers #1
Two engineering students were biking across a university campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?"
The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want."
The first engineer nodded approvingly and said, "Good choice: The clothes probably wouldn't have fit you anyway."

Understanding Engineers #2
To the optimist, the glass is half-full. To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Understanding Engineers #3
A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers.
The engineer fumed, "What's with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!"
The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such inept golf!"
The priest said, "Here comes the greens-keeper. Let's have a word with him." He said, "Hello George, What's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?"
The greens-keeper replied, "Oh, yes. That's a group of blind firemen. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime!"
The group fell silent for a moment. The priest said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight."
The doctor said, "Good idea. I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there's anything she can do for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't they play at night?"

Understanding Engineers #4
What is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers? Mechanical engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets.

Understanding Engineers #5
The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"
The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"
The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

Understanding Engineers #6
Three engineering students were gathered together discussing who must have designed the human body.
Another said, "No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections."
The last one said, "No, actually it had to have been a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?"

Understanding Engineers #7
Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.

One of my biggest issues with Engineers through the years

Understanding Engineers #8
An engineer was crossing a road one day, when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess."
He bent over, picked up the frog, and put it in his pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn back into a beautiful princess and stay with you for one week."
The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket.
The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you for one week and do anything you want."
Again, the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.
Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess and that I'll stay with you for one week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"
The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog - now that's cool."

And Finally
Two engineers were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking at its top.
A woman walked by and asked what they were doing.
"We're supposed to find the height of this flagpole," said Sven, "but we don't have a ladder."
The woman took a wrench from her purse, loosened a couple of bolts, and laid the pole down on the ground. Then she took a tape measure from her pocketbook, took a measurement, announced, "Twenty one feet, six inches," and walked away.
One engineer shook his head and laughed, "A lot of good that does us. We ask for the height and she gives us the length!"

[demoncase]

LOL....I thought this appropriate for this thread. Found it elsewhere today.
Understanding Engineers #2
To the optimist, the glass is half-full. To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

*ahem* The real engineer would point out that the glass is always full of fluid, regardless of the amount of liquid it contains.
Unless we've magically managed to create vacuum above the water without vapourising it, the upper part of the glass is full of air- another fluid, but a fluid nonetheless....