Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Teachable moment: the good engineer
The famous physicist Freeman Dyson (born 1923) said:
A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good
engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as
few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in
engineering.
Emerging technology
Proven technology
He also said:
If we had a reliable way to label our toys good and bad, it
would be easy to regulate technology wisely. But we can rarely
see far enough ahead to know which road leads to damnation.
Whoever concerns himself with big technology, either to push
it forward or to stop it, is gambling in human lives.
Questions
1. Give two examples in bioengineering that
demonstrate Dyson's first point and two emerging
technologies in which we presently need to heed the
warning of his second quote.
2. What does this tell us about risk taking, especially
the optimum between necessary and irresponsible
risks?
3. Give an example of when avoiding a risk leads to
bigger problems than taking the risk.
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Time
Failures
Figure 8.1-1 Hypothetical failure rate of new versus proven
technologies.
ripe for mistakes and mishaps are only detectable to
fellow engineers. This was well put by Petroski
22
:
Engineers
.
are not superhuman. They make mistakes
in their assumptions, in their calculations, in their
conclusions. That they make mistakes is forgivable;
that they catch them is imperative. Thus it is the
essence of modern engineering not only to be able to
check one's own work but also to have one's work
checked and to be able to check the work of others.
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Δ
Emerging technology
Proven technology
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Time
Failures
Preventable failure
Figure 8.1-2 Hypothetical effect of preventable failure on overall advance of a new technology. Solid line is the technological advance had
the preventable failure not occurred. The delta (
D
) is the difference in technology development attributed to the preventable mistake.
Without the failure, the technological progress would be greater by delta.
