When I was an undergraduate engineering student, I remember learning how to design against vibrations, strong wind, fire, earthquakes, tornadoes, moisture, corrosive environments, seawater, extreme heat, extreme cold, and, um, against deliberate human destructive desires.
One of these things is not like the others.
That bothered me on a visceral level. Nature herself was difficult enough, especially under the constraints of time, materials, and money. I could not believe that we'd have to take into account that someone someday would deliberately want to destroy a structure so as to kill people.
Nature is brutal, but she is indifferent. The wind blows. The wind does not blow with the explicit intent of toppling your building. The sea roils. The sea does not roil with the explicit intent of smashing your boat. Herman Melville could tell you about that. That's why engineering is so emotionally straightforward a field.
But how could you ever design against someone who wants to target and destroy other people? It's like the ever-increasing security on airplanes, always one step behind the terrorists...
I just don't know.
And that's all I got for today.
Peace to all.
1 comment:
Heart ache. So many reasons to yell and scream about security and politicians and the awful... thank goodness for interwebs people that show pictures of kindness and humanity.
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