Enter the Engineers

The full version of this blog is available at the post Enter the Engineers.


Scientists study the world as it is, engineers create the world that has never been.

Theodore von Karman

Listen to the Scientists

We often hear the phrase “Listen to the scientists”. What is meant by this is that we should read the analyses and reports that they publish in order to understand climate change. We need to avoid wishful thinking; we need to face up to the facts.

Synthesis

Georg Hegel (1770-1831) was an 18th century German philosopher whose writings are notoriously obscure. He discussed the development of an “absolute idea” or “universal truth” that is obtained by reconciling contradictions and tensions within systems. This way of thinking is frequently referred to as an ‘Hegelian Synthesis’, even though he himself never actually used the term. The basic idea can be summarized in the following three steps.

  1. We start with an initial idea or situation. This starting point is referred to as the ‘Thesis’.