Developing Engineers

It’s hard to argue against the concept of sustainable development (SD). To borrow an american idiom, SD is like motherhood and apple pie - principles with which very few disagree.

In 1987 the then Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Gro Harlem Brundtland coined the following definition:

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

The strength of this statement lies in its mix of specificity and vagueness. Intuitively it is pretty clear what is meant; the planet we leave to our children should be a planet on which we would like to live too. Or as Tony Blair put it:

It’s not cheating on the kids.

At it’s core SD can be considered a matter of ethics & philosophy. Just as we live in a society in which individuals restrain their sexual and violent urges for moral reasons, so should we restrain our destructive practices which inhibit the enjoyment of life by others, whether in the present or the future.

History

SD is not a new concept, in 1848 John Stuart Mill commented:

If the earth must lose that great portion of its pleasantness which it owes to things that the unlimited increases of wealth and population would extirpate from it, for the mere purpose of enabling it to support a larger, but not happier or better population, I sincerely hope, for the sake of posterity, that they be content to be stationary long before necessity compels them to it.

Mill, like Reverend Malthus before him, did not believe growth could continue forever, there there existed natural limits to growth. More recently the The Club of Rome echoed the same concerns in publishing its flawed yet seminal work The Limits to Growth in 1972.

Relevance to Engineers?

So why do developing engineers need to trouble themselves with philosophy and ethics? Surely that’s for the humanities students to worry about? 

Typically engineers are given a problem, and solve it through hard work, technology and good design. Engineers are crucial elements in the continuing development of society as a whole. From building infrastructure to programming computers, our ultimate aim is to improve society and human’s well being. However as engineers we must recognise that the solutions we design have far reaching impacts beyond the immediate benefits to the clients.

As Einstein put it:

Not everything that can be counted, counts … and not everything that counts can be counted

The concept of SD is complex, and this brief introduction does not do it justice. I will posting more on this subject in the next few months. I hope it generates some discussion and provides an opportunity for wider thinking on the other interesting subjects covered by my fellow bloggers.

Are you born an engineer and could it be diagnosed in a child? The writers of Dilbert have this comic take on the plight of the engineer’s parents…

The Knack – Dilbert

I have to admit that I was forever taking my toys apart, much to the dismay of my Dad who had to put them all back together. I guess that natural inquisition is the most common trait I have discovered in my engineering colleagues and friends. It still baffles me when I meet other friends who aren’t compelled to discover how their stuff works. Thankfully for our friendships I’ve managed to control my urges to lecture them.

Whether or not you have knack (and fulfil the stereotype of ‘utter social ineptitude’) if you enjoy finding out how things work – then you’ll make a great engineer.

Never stop learning.