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forsythThe goal of practical engineering and design is to take wonders and make them boring. To make them so reliable and convenient that we take them for granted. Airplanes were once rare and spectacular things, the province of daredevils and eccentric millionaires. Now? Thousands are in and out of cities every day, and nobody spares them a second look. Cars, skyscrapers, bridges, all the infrastructure of modern life. We've gotten to the point where we expect them to work, not to fail. That's profoundly different than how things worked for most of human history.
But the biggest downside of this is things become boring. Infrastructure isn't sexy. How many politicians make speeches about infrastructure on a regular basis? How many students decide they want to work on it? Not very many. It's boring. It "just works". Except it doesn't. It's like the red queen's race, you have to keep running to keep in place. And when we stop, things fail and people die.
But it's boring. it's not sexy, it's not going to make you famous. Most engineers aren't Scotty. And by engineers, I include plumbers, builders, architects, computer techs, and all the other people who know how technology works and keep it running. And it's their own successes that make their jobs considered boring. Until you need things fixed, anyway.
Technorati Tags: SCIENCE!, Mindscribbles, Rants
But the biggest downside of this is things become boring. Infrastructure isn't sexy. How many politicians make speeches about infrastructure on a regular basis? How many students decide they want to work on it? Not very many. It's boring. It "just works". Except it doesn't. It's like the red queen's race, you have to keep running to keep in place. And when we stop, things fail and people die.
But it's boring. it's not sexy, it's not going to make you famous. Most engineers aren't Scotty. And by engineers, I include plumbers, builders, architects, computer techs, and all the other people who know how technology works and keep it running. And it's their own successes that make their jobs considered boring. Until you need things fixed, anyway.
Technorati Tags: SCIENCE!, Mindscribbles, Rants
