Question: As the wold population increases and demand for basic supplies increases, what way do you think engineering will solve important issues, such as world hunger, overcrowding and work shortage.

Neil Taylor answered on 16 Mar 2015:

Hi burgee!

This is a great question! I think that the primary challenge going forward will be in the way we generate and conserve energy. I’ve written in more detail here:

/safetym15-zone/2015/03/16/how-is-engineering-going-to-effect-the-future/

In terms of world hunger, it’s a very complicated issue. As far as I understand it, the world produces enough food today and yet there is still hunger – primarily because the poorest people don’t have the money to purchase the food and/or they have no land to grow their own food. Therefore, it’s partly a political issue that will need some sort of political solution – a realm that engineers don’t have too much say in.

But you’re right – in the future we’ll need to figure out how to increase the amount of food we generate. This will undoubtedly involve engineering on some level – for example some clever genetic engineering of crops, or ways to grow crops on land that was previously considered unsuitable.

I think that one of the best ways to prevent overpopulation is to raise the standard of living in developing nations. These are the regions of the world where population is rising quickest, and there is a correlation between wealth and fertility rates. If the population rises regardless, then engineers will be required to design cities to cope with the extra population.

I think in terms of work shortage, it’s really hard to forecast too far ahead what the labour needs will be in the future. I don’t think that the issue will be a lack of things to do, but a lack of money to pay people for these jobs. I don’t have an answer for this! Perhaps governments will step in? Perhaps capitalism will need to evolve? Who knows!

Hope this helps!

Useful United Nations link here:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2490e/i2490e03a.pdf