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WALTER J. MURPHY, EDITOR
Engineering at Large engineer’s most characteristic function is design, in the Ttives,broadand of the term. He stsrts with a set of objeche is expected to devise the most dective route to BE
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their attainment. The correct engineering solution to a problem is an artful choice of those technically fessible alternatives whose over-all cost, in dollars or ita equivalent, is as low as possible. Science is the wellspring of engineering. In ita esseutiala, the whole structure of the engineering method rests on the realization that nstural laws must be identified and obeyed if they m to be exploited dectively. Earl P. Stevenson of Arthur D. Little, Inc., commented on this point a t the AAAS meeting last December. To quote from the January 19 Chemkd and Enpineering News editorial on his talk, “He explaiied creative technology as ‘the translation of new scienti6c knowledge into terms of useful devices.’ ” F,ngineering has achieved the status of a profession because of the many natural laws that enter into the usual problems of modern industry. To m l v e thee interrelated factors calls for ingeuicus and complicated methods of anslysi8 and correlation. The engineer has found so many rewarding opportunities to apply his methods to the physical sciences that he may not fully appreciate their great utility for other m a s of endeavor. Yet he is the one best equipped to see the possibilities, for the complicated technical discipline of the engineering method is a formidable obstacle to one not acquainted with ita powers Here is a real opportunity for the engineer to make a most appropriate contribution to the problems of modern society. In this area the engineer can claim expertness. In the diseussion that follows, we recognize other issues are involved besides the problem of an engineering solution. But policy and motivation are not the engineer’s concern, except to the extent that he has an individual citizen’s voice in the programs of a democratic society. He should use that voice, too, but recogniee the Merent platform from which he speaks when he does so. Consider the communications problem an infant United States f a d in the late 1700’s. Its citizens were scattered over a quarter of a continent. Many communities were ffontier outposts, separated by miles of wildernem. The political concept of a single nation was still more a sought-for goal than a reality. Our nation’s leaders concluded that unsubsidized commercial services would not a c c o m p l i the degree of commnnication nemwry to unify the nation politically and advance it economically. Was the establishment of a federally operated postal service the k t engineering solution to the physical objective of improved communication?
In our generation, a major underdeveloped area of the nation was judged to be sutrering from handicaps that stemmed in large measure from geographical and jurisdictional problems of a large river w h w watershed extended through several states. Was the Tenneasee Vdley Authority the best engineering solution to thii problem? Let us take the caee of a new industry, struggling to make a place for itself in the face of established competition from abroad. Let ua w u m e also that it must prove ita economic worth if it is to survive permanently. What means would the engineer devise to protect it in its vnlnerable youth, and to judge when it should stand unsupported? How would he deal with subsidized foreign competition? It is reasonable to presume that a synthetic fibers industry contributes to human welfare. Because of the technology of the chemical and textile industries the development of a new Synthetic fiber is a high-risk gamble for the chemical entrepreneur, involving tens of millions of dollars. What criteria would an engiueer recommend for taxation and accumulatioi of wealth to provide the environment that will permit the de velopment of this type of product? New search techniques offer a major promise in the mors thorough exploitation of recorded scientific knowledge. The records are now in many languages and in myriad published sonrces. How would the engineer determine the most economic way to make the information mechanically accessible? We venture that any engineer who selects one of these, or any of a thousand similar problems, will have an armchair exercise both fascinating and enlightening. Out of such musings should come at least two conclusions that well deserve to be recognized. The first is a heightened appreciation of the basic tenets of the engineer’s method-analysis b a d on conscious examination of all factors pertinent to the problem. The second is the humbling realization that measurement of social and economic factors calls for every bit aa mucb teehnical skill and insight as that required for a major new chemical process. Probably the iirst importsnt contribution the engineer would make would be his cry for specific information. His demands should lead to a clearer distinction among what is known, what can be determined, and what can only be guessed. His needs should stimnlate some rewarding research studies. And fiually, they should show where predictable re. sulk can be anticipated from rational calculation, and identify the factors that are the imponderables in other problems. T h w n thua into such sharp focus, these unknowns will stand as clear challenges to constructive future m a r c h in the social sciences.
