MODULE III
ENGINEERING ESSAY
TOPIC:
Describe and provide examples of ways in which engineering, its artifacts and practices, can affect culture and how culture influences technological choices and practices.
Write a six pages double spaced essay that delves into the The Impact of Technology on the Society.
……. Benefit
……. Negative impacts
……. etc..
Example
……. Engineering solutions have always had a major impact on society. In some cases this impact has been clearly positive, such as in the case of house appliances and water purification. In some cases the impact has been negative, as in the case of bombs with ever-increasing destructive power. Finally, in some cases the impact of engineering products has been both positive and negative, as in the case of the automobile. For the most part engineers have always given the proper attention to the safety and cost of their products, two aspects that impact all users of
engineering products and therefore society as a whole. More recently, engineers have also become more sensitive regarding the environmental impact of their products. On the other hand, there have been many cases where the engineers involved in the creation of a particular solution, constrained with a limited view of the situation they were trying to address, were not aware or could not possibly imagine the impact their product would later have on the society as a whole (ex. CFC’s which caused destruction of the ozone layer or the atomic bomb).
The broad education to -understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global / societal context”
There are numerous examples of engineering projects that have a major effect on society that illustrate this need. For example, students may work on the design of a dam to provide hydroelectric power. While hydroelectric power results in no pollution or greenhouse gas emissions, students must be encouraged to examine the greater environmental and social ramifications of creating a new dam in a community. For example, people may be displaced and farmland and cultural sites flooded. Negative environmental impacts may include bonding and eutrophication, and the fish population may be adversely affected. On the other hand, new dams may help control flooding. Many articles have recently been published about the expected positive and negative effects of the Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River in China, which is displacing over a million people………..