> > life as one sort of engineer / technician or another. I wonder if 
> > gardening wouldn't have been a better choice.
> 
> I have a deep, strong belief in engineering: thus I believe 
> it can help solve most of world's problems.
> The matter lies in "psychology, ethics, philosophy", IMO... 
> so we can do our best, but other kind of scientists (and 
> human beings too) should contribute too...

If the world were filled with only scientists, I think it might work that
way.

On of the most important lessons I have learned, and which history should
have, but did not, teach me, was that there are a lot of ways of thinking
about things that are NOT like the scientific way.

There is a story I read about Teddy Roosevelt going to Africa to try to show
the natives how to build a great society with their abundance of natural
resources. There were two villages and he wanted them to cooperate, which
worked for a bit, then a goat was stolen and despite evidence to the
contrary, a man in the other village was blamed. Teddy took it as an
opportunity to teach the court system. He set up as judge and formed a jury
from the first village, then appointed attorneys for prosecution and
defense, etc... The defense was able to show that there was no way the
accused could have stolen the goat and the prosecution was weak. Teddy
recessed the jury and when they came back quickly, he was sure of the
result. Imagine his surprise when the verdict was "GUILTY!". Asking the jury
foreman how on earth they had come to that conclusion, the answer was "Oh,
easy; he is from the other village. Therefore, he must be guilty." They went
on to explain that this way, they would not have to execute anyone from
their own village and so would be stronger and more popular.

Ask a Hawaiian about Americans. Or an American Indian. Not to say that they
are right and the Americans are wrong or the other way around. Just that
there are a LOT of different ways of looking at things and that engineers
are a breed alone. 

As soon as we have a person or a computer that can accurately predict how
every people will use what we develop, I'm not sure we should keep handing
them tools.

---
James.
 

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist