• Question: Do you think that engineering is the way forward and will create a better future?

    Asked by laceyc to Amit, Emily, Joanne, Martin, Paige on 16 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Martin Wallace

      Martin Wallace answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      I think that engineering can solve a lot of problems, but it depends on how it is used. It is possible to acheive almost anything using engineering but often it will cost a lot of money. For example it would be possible to spend all the money in the world to developing ways to provide fresh water to all the surface of the globe – and succeed – but it would mean that money was not spent on other things like growing crops or making television programmes or making cars or anything else that people like to spend money on.
      There are lots of things that engineering can be used for to make the world a better place, but it depends on what your definition of a better world is. One person might think that the world would be a better place with virtual reality computer consoles and flyinf cars, whereas someone in a developing country might prefer that money to be spent on developing a way to eradicate malaria.

    • Photo: Joanne Davies

      Joanne Davies answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Yes, engineering is the way forward and hopefully we can creat a better future by solving all the bad problems that exist.

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Engineering is a GREAT resource for solving problems in the world, and many engineers are the problem-solvers of our century. However, engineers don’t work in a vacuum… it takes collaboration and working together between engineers, biologists, chemists, doctors, communicators, environmental biologists, and many other types of researchers to really solve complex problems! The best thing about engineers is that we (usually) love to work in teams, and working in teams is the way forward to create a better future.

    • Photo: Emily Bullen

      Emily Bullen answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      Yes, I think little by little (or sometimes a big step at a time) we are improving the lives of people. It can be when they are vulnerable (for example when they are ill), to make life easier (think of washing machines), to decrease our impact on the environment (renewable fuels), to fuel our love for gadgets (iphones etc…) or to help those who have very little (water purifiers). There are loads more examples of course, and engineers are involved in all of them.

Comments