Engineering can be defined and understood as the application of science to execute a shared idea or thought. Though in the modern era, engineering has donned the responsibility of garnering commercial benefits, its origin dates to ages, even eons in history.
The Human is unique in its ability to co-ordinate cognition and motor functionalities. In this regard, the earliest achievement of man maybe, was to engineer tools for hunting. Fire came next and the accidental rub of two flint stones changed the way, we would consume food, forever! Much of the methodology of the product development was similar to the system that we follow these days, ie conceive an idea, develop a blueprint, execute accordingly, test and train results to achieve near perfect outputs.
The shift from the hunting to the agrarian lifestyle paved the way for settlements, the need to protect settlements gave rise to civilizations and the pride of such civilizations gave birth to empires.
As empires rose and fell, philosophy intervened and man’s battle with the environmental responsibility had begun. Today’s social responsibility practiced by corporates is maybe a reminder that though times have changed, the elements of our planet haven’t! Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Air still cradle existence and life and so much of the engineering practiced to this day rests on the fundamentals of the five basic elements.
Though it would not be fair to compare today’s technology with the prehistoric ages, the advancements in engineering have mainly been to meet demands of scale more than scope. Thanks to advancements in medical sciences, our life expectancies have increased; but even so, we are bound by the same life concerns as our ancient peers. Most of the infrastructure developments have been targeted to accommodate the human urge to rise from physical and physiological needs to intellectual and emotional satisfactions.
The earliest doctrines of philosophy and science were invariably wrapped around the intrinsic understanding that coexistence with the eco-system is a vital parameter to satisfy human needs. Much has been written by various seers, thinkers and philosophers about the balance of nature and man’s urge to innovate. However, with every attempt to improve our lives, the temptation to exploit our natural resources got the better of all the hard-earned wisdom. The dire consequences have been inflicted on societies time and again, the most recent example being that of the pandemic.
Today’s child is burdened with a drastic change from then to now. Even a couple of years back, the journey from kindergarten to graduation had a set pattern with the consolation of some unchanging beliefs. But today, the pressure to think about sustainability has descended from closeted meetings to concerns of our daily lives. Engineering in today’s times is hence a battle to sustain what we have painstakingly achieved and justify its presence in the backdrop of a challenged natural environment.
Today’s engineering has evolved into a complete package involving science, art, philosophy and economics. It is high time therefore, that educators, technocrats, economists, environmentalists, artists and industrialists got together to build a knowledge bank that would define the fundamentals of an education system responsible for generating the intelligentsia of tomorrow. Segregation of subjects and specialized learning may do well to align a student to market requirements but the necessity to redefine the contributions of these domains to a sustainable tomorrow loom larger than ever, now.
This is not to say that all the developments and the industrialization spree in the recent decades are a waste. What needs to be understood is that our dependencies on Nature and Natural resources should decrease without victimizing our eco-system. This particular concept has been tried out by us on occasions but in the end, we have resorted to harming nature one way or the other.
The most common example of this is cement. The present OPC, Pozzolana or Slag cement have come a long way in replacing brick, wood, or lime mortar as construction materials. However, cement does irreparable damage to the topsoil, rivers, or our environment due to its slow degradation and chemical properties. Steel structures involve mining of raw materials while fine and coarse aggregates lead to depleting rocky hills or mounds. The resulting changes in terrain lead to severe impact on the climate causing great losses of human and animals lives as well as damages to property. Same is true for epoxy or resin-based chemicals used to address various aspects of architectural or aesthetic requirements that have, with time replaced environment friendly paints or materials, but leave negative footprints on our air and water resources.
The difficulty for most of the part is not in accepting new ideas as it is in breaking away from dogmas and doctrines.
Once we decide to break away from adhering to profit margins and embrace co-existence with Nature, we shall be on our road to revival and resurrection. In setting this new norm, we shall offer our children, students, and learners the mantra of sustainable development while doing full justice to our cognitive abilities.
Maintaining two different worlds of consumerism and conservationism will not be an easy task. This requires setting up an intricate system of human and automation driven processes. Data management, blockchain and AI are all advances towards such an ideology. However it isn’t yet clear on how such advanced tools can be knit into the simplistic lifestyles of a major human population comprising of diverse cultures, requirements and principles. The present threat of automation replacing the manual workforce may not be accepted willingly in many parts of the world!
With such obstacles on the horizon, it is indeed imperative that we groom our children on a more humanitarian platform to discharge their professional responsibilities. This means that we provide ample space to the future professional to create a work life balance that would provide time to relate to the organic ways of simple living as well as embrace the high end, technology driven working environment and corporate infrastructure. In such a scenario, a comprehensively packaged system comprising of the basic and the advanced pedagogies of learning, understanding, conceptualizing, operating, and executing could be seen as a answer and digitalization of infrastructure comes up as an optimum solution.
It would be unfair to say that no thought has been given to the ideas expressed above. The concept of digitalization is not new and owes its origin to almost a century back in time. However, it has now entered the boundaries of our day to day existence with an assertion escalated by the pandemic and a growing need to focus on environmental concerns. The extent of effort required by a young professional would hence depend on the exposure to the world of digitalization in the early days of his or her formative life. This implies that school and college curriculums would play a vital role in inducing concepts related to digitalization and the benefits therewith.
For a college goer, the jump into the digital world is akin to a leap of faith, wherein the gap between now and tomorrow would depend on the education of the factors that drive the digitalization engine. With due focus on maintaining a balance between the old and the new, the college curriculum could help bring to light the role of humanitarian thinking to help a learner stretch the limits of imagination and understanding. After all today’s blue-eyed newbie, Artificial Intelligence depends on an elaborate method of Feature selection for predictive analyses.
At Bentley we attempt to build and curate software to aid an engineer complete the journey from designing to modeling and visualization. With minimum intrusion into the design intent, our software allows users to bring their concepts on a platform and stitch the gaps with feature elements that model and create while recognizing and remembering the design intent. Almost all disciplines of engineering are addressed by the software in our pool.
We also attempt to help young students and learners grapple with understanding the digital face of infrastructure engineering. We host Technology classrooms, workshops and DIY activities, assessment sessions and much more to help students understand the basics of digitalization. Platforms are provided for interactions with industry experts, educators, subject matter experts and training partners for exchange of ideas and discussions. All this along with frequent additions and upgradations are available on the Bentley education portal at Bentley Education - Unlimited access to Bentley engineering applications
What we are trying at Bentley is an effort to brace a crisis brought about by a dearth of a proper education in digitalization, with the help of our products. We hope to see a workspace less plagued by the stress and strain of the daily demands of life. Taking up such a responsibility to alleviate crises such as the present-day Great Resignation, appears to be the least we can to do contribute as an advocate of sustainable engineering.
We hope to spread the word to anyone, interested in joining us in the drive to build a better tomorrow.
As John Maynard Keynes, one of the prominent economists, famously put it.
“Ideas shape the course of history.”
Let us draw from the past and our wisdom to sustain the present and build the future.
Good Luck!