Applying an engineering philosophy can provide significant insights into how a design is best arranged. This understanding comes from the fundamental principles of the operation. These skills can be exploited in many ways, and not all uses of a technology can be foreseen. The engineered world is far from morally neutral, highlighting the ethics to which professional engineers are bound. Happy reading.
Windmills on the Mind
Offshore wind turbines have opportunities and challenges that differ from those faced at on-shore sites. Incrementally changing existing designs will not yield the same benefits as looking at the fundamentals of operation in the new environment.
Professional Engineering Magazine, July 2011
Animals Spinning Their Wheels
“If engineering is the kitchen of civilisation, then the wheel is the key ingredient.” An engineer uses the principles underlying an efficient wheel as a framework to view animal motion. The reverse engineering shows the efficiency of the natural design and the universality of engineering sciences.
Mechanical Engineering Magazine, June 2011
Canada the Good?
Companies are increasingly taking notice of environmental and social performance. Corporate social responsibility is seen as a measure of a company’s commitment to being a good citizen and community member. Internationally, Canada ranks behind Europe but ahead of the USA.
Macleans, June 2011
New App Checks Out the Bar Scene in Advance
As evidence that technology is not neutral, and that some uses of technology are just bad ideas, see this app from Chicago. There will likely never be a shortage of programmers sitting in their parents’ basements trying to find a way to use their computers to meet girls.
Reuters, July 2011