OSPE - The Voice - Winter 2021 - 23

NEWS & EVENTS
Since
What is the Role of an
Engineer?
The usual conversation about the role of
an engineer includes:
* We rationally address problems
* We can tackle any problem with
systematic, rational thinking
* We can find the solution
* We can develop the needed technology
However, consider the more difficult conversation. Consider
climate change - who is responsible for designing and building:
the drilling rigs; the pipelines; the refineries; the cars and trucks;
the roads; the airplanes; the airports. We created the problem.
We are responsible manipulation of physical forces, empty of
consciousness...
We need to learn!
Einstein said: No problem can be solved from the same level of
consciousness that created it.
So, who can we learn from and what can
they teach us?
We can learn from Yuval Hariri: Historian extraordinaire,
author of best-selling books including Sapiens - A Brief History
of Humankind and Twenty-one Lessons for the Twenty-first
Century.
the
corporations
and
entrepreneurs who lead the technological
revolution naturally tend to sing the
praises of their creations, it falls to
sociologists, philosophers, and historians
such as myself to sound the alarm and
explain all the ways things can go terribly
wrong.
GOOD ADVICE.
Incidentally, why doesn't he say engineers
lead the technological revolution?
We can learn from Wendy Faulkner: She is a Scottish scientist
who took a new approach and studied engineers at work to
understand the social system of engineering. The people part of
engineering. She describes a spectrum from technical to social
elements in engineering and the behaviours, beliefs and identity
issues of engineers along the spectrum
In her paper, Nuts and Bolts and People, she argues that ...
engineering as a profession must finds ways to foreground
and celebrate sociotechnical understandings of engineering
and sociotechnical identities...if the profession remains a
'monoculture', in which only people from one spot on the technical/
social spectrum really feel they belong then it will (fail to attract
and) lose some very valuable talent.
We can learn from the work of Erin Cech, by training, first an
electrical engineer and then a sociologist. According to Cech,
two aspects of the engineering culture stand in our way.
We engineers believe:
ENGINEERING IS TECHNICAL
It is neutral, unemotional and seeks the pure truth of math and
science: it is not political or social - engineering is apolitical.
And therefore, engineering designs need not take into account
societal complexities.
ENGINEERING IS FAIR
Unbiased, and offers equal opportunity to all: hard work and
talent will win the day: engineering rewards merit. And
therefore, engineering designs need not take into account
systemic inequities in society that disadvantage many according
to gender, race, ethnicity and social class.
We can learn from Mary Crossan, renowned professor of
business strategy at the Ivey Business School. Imagine ... explicit
teaching of character to each-and-every engineer - Justice,
December 2021 THE VOICE
23
OSPE - The Voice - Winter 2021

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