Age of Subjective Engineering - Emotional Engineering - page 2

up to now. In short, we have been thinking that we are happy and it is a good life, if
we have money. Value is considered in terms of money. But happiness is subjective
so that QOL should be evaluated by SWB. This is the recent assertion of QOL in
psychology.
This is a discussion in the ! field of psychology. But if we look at engineering, we
understand that engineering is no exception. Value has been de ! ned [ 1 ] as

Value ¼ Performance = Cost

The numerator “performance” has long been regarded as the functions of a ! nal
product. It is only recently that we come to regard this numerator “performance” in
the exact sense of the word and come to include MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and
Operations) as important performance factors. But still the fundamental framework
of evaluating performance is based on economics. Value in this equation means
economic value. Or to be more exact, it means producers' pro ! t.
With increasing diversi ! cation of customer's needs, value has come to be
interpreted in a wider sense. Regarding MRO as performance is such a move. But
when we try to include them into performance, we face the problem of how we can
evaluate repair. If it is maintenance, which means to restore degrading functions to
its original design level, it is rather straightforward and we can evaluate the task
objectively or in economic terms, because the task is fundamentally no different
from production. The goal is clear and we know what technologies should be
applied. This is the same kind of work as we do to produce a new product.
But when it comes to repair, we ! find ourselves at a loss. There is no objective
basis for evaluating repair. This is exactly the same as in healthcare. Doctor's health
and our health are different. Even if a doctor says you are healthy, we do not feel
healthy, if we cannot spend our days as we like. If you would like to drink, you
don't feel healthy, if you cannot drink. But even if a doctor says you are not
healthy, but if you can drink, then you would think you are healthy. Engineers have
been discussing performance in the same sense as doctor's health. It is very much
objective and performance of a product can be discussed in comparison with those
of other products.
Thus, QOL for a doctor and QOL for us are different. People come to be aware
of this difference and they now understand that when we discuss QOL, we have to
introduce the concept of SWB, because the evaluation of QOL depends largely on
individuals and it varies quite widely from person to person. People come to
understand that

it does not make sense to discuss such individualistic factor

objectively.
Medical treatments are composed of diagnosis and treatments. But correct
diagnosis and treatment does not necessary mean good medical care for patients.
What patients want is whether they can spend a happy life in their own lifestyle. So
a good doctor would diagnose to satisfy them. Then, patients would enjoy life and
further they might recover more quickly because they feel happy.
Engineering design has been in a sense carrying out correct diagnosis. How
correct we can be technologically has been our main focus in engineering. This can