Engineering Mishaps
Last Wednesday, Natalie and I went to a book-signing event that our friend Evany was holding in North Berkeley. While at the bookstore, we browsed the diverse collection of books for sale. I don't think I've ever seen so many interesting titles in such a small, general-purpose bookstore.
I purchased the book "To Engineer is Human," a title that I recall some of my college-friends majoring in civil engineering reading. I began reading it just last night, but am already gaining insight into why engineering disasters occur. Mostly, they're due to a series of mistakes or design considerations made in the interest of completing the project on-time and on-budget. Engineers are constantly faced with the problem of deciding what constitutes an adequate level of safety: it's possible to make a structure 1000-times safer than is adequate, but it may destroy some design aesthetics and have a exorbitant price-tag. So, engineers aim for 'safe, but not too safe."
It might distress a lot of people to learn that the planes that carry them cross-country, or the bridges that suspend their car a quarter-mile over the ocean are not constructed with absolute safety. But human beings routinely disregard safety in the interest of accomplishing goals and choose to accept or ignore associated risks. We exceed the speed limit while driving, run with scissors, and drink water out of the tap. All because we feel comfortable with the risks.
So, why are engineered structures expected to have high standards of safety built-in? Mostly because they are complex in their processes and materials, and because they are often intended to solve problems previously unattainable. Their complexity increases the level of risk. But why are they complex? I don't think it's due strictly to the number of steps - there are plenty of products made consistently-well with a high number of steps involved. Rather, I think it's the number of steps involving compartmentalized, highly-trained individuals. Most engineers are highly-trained, and highly-skilled. Reliance on this category of knowledge-workers makes the project more complex and risky. I believe that engineering is a characteristically-human field: our determination to conquer the unknown is largely what has driven the advancement of civilization.