We are forgetful when it comes to appreciating the engineered progress which makes our lives easier because we live it and it is making our lives easier, not harder. Today, many people are inclined to protest against engineering failures, but rarely protest against the lack of engineered progress. In a manner of speaking, this is a measure of the success engineers have had in making our lives better. For this reason, modern politics is more often focused on engineering failures than advancing engineering progress or appreciating the advances that are being made. Engineers need to, as professionals, advocate to change this focus from the negative to the positive. When was the last time you saw an engineer on the news in a positive light?
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One of the few times we are likely to appreciate engineered progress is when visiting historic farms and villages where reenactors show how our ancestors lived or demonstrate the “advanced” technology of these past times. For a brief time, we are transported back to a simpler time. When its time to leave, we walk back to our cars, often on blistered feet unaccustomed to a day of walking. Slipping into the comfortable artificial environment of our cars, modernity—meaning engineering-driven progress—floods back into our lives. Until the first traffic jam, these comforts of engineering progress are greatly appreciated.
What is real progress?
True progress provides the opportunity for people to improve their standard of living. Almost always, true progress (∆P) reflects the use of technology to enable us to live our lives with less effort or to do more. When departing one of these historic farms or villages, the ∆P we enjoy, from those past times to the present, is immediately apparent. We relish the padded seats, the air conditioning or heating, the windows to keep out noise, and, of course, the ability to transport ourselves with little effort.
True progress does not come easily
True progress is engineered progress. To quote Thomas Edison, a prolific inventor, “Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.” We can restate this as progress is 10 percent inventive genius and 90 percent engineering.
Engineering is hard because nature is unforgiving. Technological implements poorly engineered fail, sometimes resulting in harm. Yet, this is the inherent challenge and reward of engineering—to get it right.
Humans are now an engineered species
Engineered progress began several million years ago with some of our ancestors imagining how to create tools from the available natural resources. Wood, bone, and stone were fashioned into tools that we today see as crude but were revolutionary at the time. Many were quite extraordinary in terms of the imagination, visualization, and dexterity required to make and use the tools. And this was done by ancient ancestors that had, by current understanding, less intellectual abilities than we do at present. If you were give a rough stone similar to the above, could you have fashioned this primitive tool to survive.
Tools provided our ancient ancestors with the ability to do more with, often, less effort. Less effort reduces the time required for gathering food and provides free time for non-survival activities. We are now finding that the early tool-enabled ∆P—particularly fire—probably had a major role in creating modern humans. We are a product of the engineering our ancestors long ago used to improve how they lived. When they did that, they stopped being creatures of nature, becoming masters of a destiny that led to us today; poised to do something that no mere creature of nature can do—to become spacefarers.
Avoiding political “progress”
Political progress has become a subversion of engineered progress. While starting out in the 1800s as embracing engineering/industrial progress to elevate our culture, today, progressive politicians appear to despise real ∆P. Real engineered ∆P enables us to do more with less, making problems go away, and providing opportunity for more people to live better lives. As this happens, the winds filling the sails of progressive politicians subside, leaving them without the “causes” that bring them political power—which is what they really seek.
Engineers need to reclaim progress
No engineer forces someone to buy a car or a smart phone or any of the other millions of engineered products available today. People voluntarily enter the marketplace to purchase these items using the financial means that they have created for themselves. Their ability to select from choices creates a competitive marketplace where engineers strive to do better by providing advantages in price, features, and performance. This creates a cycle of continued ∆P that is accelerating. With each cycle, more and more persistent problems fade away as people have new and better choices of solutions to use. Recognizing the value that engineered progress brings to our culture, engineers need to reclaim ownership of this word and take public credit for what is being accomplished.
Why this is now important
The last presidential administration focused on progressive political solutions. Their lack of success in most areas contrasts sharply with the current administration’s focus on making real progress. Engineered ∆P has become a political priority. ∆P expands the economy, creating opportunity for personal growth. After many years of hiding in the shadows, it’s time for the engineering profession to assert its prowess as America aims to better itself—to begin rebuilding itself into a truly amazing nation ready for the 22nd century. A spacefaring nation!
Mike Snead is a professional engineer and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He is president of the Spacefaring Institute™ (spacefaringinstitute.net) and writes this Spacefaring America blog. He has formed the LinkedIn group Space Solar Power to advocate for space-based sustainable energy and the coming American spacefaring industrial revolution. He can be reached through the contact form or through LinkedIn. His technical papers are available here.