In this two-minute video, Engineering.com`s Jim Anderton explains why we`re not engineering the right things.
In this two-minute video, Engineering.com`s Jim Anderton explains why we`re not engineering the right things.
At Engineering.com, we cover engineering from a design, technology and manufacturing standpoint. But we also cover the larger economic and social issues surrounding the field, and why engineering is important to society.
A thought occurred to me the other day as I was looking at my new Sony smartphone. I wont go into detail about that particular device, other than to tell the folks at Sony they have some work to do.
I’m thinking specifically about a 2012 article written by Robert Gordon at Northwestern University. He commented on where our current technological status is relative to the world as a whole and to history. He wrote that the third industrial revolution (which led to the development of the computer and the internet) began around 1960 and reached its climax in the dot-com era in the late 1990s.
Its main impact in productivity, however, has declined since then. Many of those inventions that replaced the tedious and repetitive manufacturing processes happened a long time ago. We’ve picked the low-hanging fruit in the `70s and 80s. Gordon says inventions since 2000 have centered on entertainment and communication devices that are smaller, more capable and generally work better. But they don`t fundamentally change labor productivity or our standard of living.
I`ll admit that my smartphone is tricky to operate. Once I eventually figure out how to use it properly, I`ll be able to stream movies onto it, access my email everywhere – basically do all the things that I do with a tablet or a laptop now. And I can fit it in my pocket, which is great.
However, two doors down from where I live, they`re building a new house that`s being hammered out of two-by-fours along with nails and screws. Its construction process is practically the same as 50 years ago. In fact, if you could take a plumber, a carpenter or an electrician and pull them forward in time, they could march onto a job site and perform their tasks exactly the same way they once did. They can be as productive as they were before.
I think there`s something wrong with that. We definitely have our work cut out for us. In some ways, we`re engineering clever things. But we`re not engineering the right things.
Thumbnail photo credit: Mr.TinDC on Flickr, via Creative Commons
