Engineering Peace and Justice

The Responsibility of Engineers to Society
2010. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84882-673-1
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 167 Seiten, Format (B × H): 167 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 422 g

Some years ago when I was chair of the department of civil and environmental engineering, a colleague introduced me to a visitor from Sandia Laboratories, perhaps the largest developer of armaments and weapons systems in the world. We had a nice visit, and as we chatted, the talk naturally centered on the visitor’s engineering work. It turned out that his job in recent years had been to develop a new acoustic triggering device for bombs. As he explained it, the problem with bombs was that the plunger triggering mechanism could fail if the bomb hit at an angle, and thus the explosives would not detonate. To get around this, he dev- oped an acoustic trigger that would detonate the explosives as soon as the bomb hit any solid surface, even at an angle. As he talked, I watched his face. His enthusiasm for his work was clearly e- dent, and his animated explanations of what they had developed at Sandia exuded pride and excitement. I thought about asking him what it felt like to have spent his engineering career designing better ways to kill people or to destroy property – the sole purpose of a bomb. I wondered how many people had been killed because this man had dev- oped a clever acoustic triggering device. But good sense and decorum prevailed and I did not ask him such questions. We parted as friends and in good spirits.

Zielgruppe

Professional/practitioner

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vesilind, P Aarne

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Friedens- und Konfliktforschung
• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Technologie: Soziale & Ethische Aspekte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Konflikt- und Friedensforschung, Rüstungskontrolle, Abrüstung
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Teildisziplinen der Pädagogik Multikulturelle Pädagogik, Friedenserziehung
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Angewandte Ethik & Soziale Verantwortung Wissenschaftsethik, Technikethik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

The Evolution of the Engineering Profession.- Military Engineering.- Civilian Engineering.- The Engineer’s Commitment to Society.- Engineering and the Environment.- Peace and Justice.- Peace Engineering.

Über Autor(innen)

Aarne Vesilind worked in engineering education for about 35 years, teaching environmental engineering and professional ethics first at Duke University and then at Bucknell University, where he held a chaired professorship and organized a successful conference on peace engineering.