Bill, I worked as an engineer for a long time. I'm not sure what you are referring to regarding engineering ethics. This is what I know about the formal ethics involved:
General Electric would regard you as an engineer if you had a degree with the word "engineer" in it (but not if it included the word "technology", which would label you a technician). The pay for scientist and engineer was the same, so this was handled similarly. I believe this was an internal practice, without any external need other than to support billing the government properly in cost-plus-fee contracts. Backing up some, there is little or no ethics training in an engineering curriculum, as far as I know. I spent the entire 1970's getting various engineering degrees - nothing then, at least. In some fields, and for some purposes, it is helpful to become a "Professional Engineer". This means passing a state-administered test and meeting some other basic requirements (a degree or equivalent experience, for example). Few engineers have a need to do this. A construction design firm needs at least one professional engineer to sign drawings; young civil engineers with any ambition will take the test as soon as possible, before they forget everything. My sense is that it is a far easier test to pass than, say, a bar exam - it is not used to limit the number of engineers in order to protect $400/hour fees. I don't know what ethics code may be involved - a lot is implied when you sign a drawing - "I certify that this bridge will not fall down." The nature of engineering is devising and maintaining machines, facilities and processes that make things easier, which usually means reducing labor. In a well-functioning society (picture 100 people on an island to avoid the complexities of credit default swaps, etc.), there are better things to do, and this frees up labor to do them. "Hey, this coconut-husking machine is great! Let's go plant some pineapples." Incidentally, when you look at a jet engine from the side, you can hardly see anything but tubing. There's a need to pipe air from various places to other places - to purge bearings, balance thrust loads, pressurize the cabin - all sorts of things. This tubing is intricately fabricated, welded, bent, and shaped. The shop where all this tubing is made would look familiar to a brass instrument maker (except for the welding). It's made in relatively small quantities, and largely by "hand" (meaning basic machines and lots of tooling). Curt Austin On Jul 18, 2011, at 6:51 AM, Bill Gross wrote: > Hans raises a long term ethical question often not addresses in the > engineering community. Without going into great detail, in the US the > engineering profession has professional ethics that deal with the way they > provide their professional service. The one thing that has never really > been addressed is what responsibility an engineer who develops a new > manufacturing process has to the employees who might be displaced because of > it. > _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
