Abstract
Conversations between engineers and non-engineers occur all the time. This chapter presents a structured conversation between one engineer and four non-engineers. It begins with the address of the then President of Engineers Ireland, the professional body for engineering in Ireland. The address was eclectic and wide-ranging, and its intended audience was mostly engineers. Subsequently, and for the purposes of this book on conversations between engineering, social sciences and the humanities, the address was shared with non-engineers with the requested purpose to respond to the address. The address and the responses are provided in full, together with a final reflection written by the now past President of Engineers Ireland. This chapter is a record of how an engineer frames what are considered to be some of the most significant challenges facing the engineering community, how these challenges can be addressed, and how agreement with society can be approached. The responses by non-engineers broaden the context and question some of the underlying assumptions. Taken as a whole, the chapter provides a balanced perspective to complex and challenging issues that engineers and non-engineers, and society as a whole, face in the 21st century.
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Notes
- 1.
Thomas Tredgold (1788–1829) proposed the definition of Civil Engineering used in the Charter of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
- 2.
The Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland (ICEI) amalgamated with Engineers Ireland in 1969.
- 3.
Change of tense in the opening lines from A tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (1859).
- 4.
Full article available on Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan website: https://www.mofa.go.jp/p_pd/ip/page4e_000283.html
- 5.
Available at http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/challenges.aspx
- 6.
Middlemarch is a novel published in instalments in 1871 and 1872 which studied English provincial life and societal restrictions.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
Dean of the College of Engineering, University of Tennessee, 1940–1956.
- 11.
The famous “trolly problem” is not an exercise for the engineer – it is a painful and all too present reality that requires a discreet answer in time and space.
References
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O’Neill, O. (2002). Licence to deceive. https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2002/lecture5.shtml
Petroski, H. (2016). The road taken: The history and future of America’s infrastructure. Bloomsbury USA.
Acknowledgement
William Grimson acknowledges with gratitude the advice and help in delivering this chapter offered willingly by Mike Murphy.
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Grimson, W., Buch, A., Larkin, C., McCarthy, N., Michelfelder, D. (2022). Conversations on Engineering Challenges. In: Christensen, S.H., Buch, A., Conlon, E., Didier, C., Mitcham, C., Murphy, M. (eds) Engineering, Social Sciences, and the Humanities. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 42. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11601-8_2
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