Great Achievements

We like to think of the United States as a glorious proving ground for innovation and engineering achievements, and indeed it often does produce some fantastic results. It's also a misconception to think that we are the kings of advancement and that we are the foremost global leader in everything. In fact, we are falling behind in many areas -- even in areas where we planted the seed.

For one, let us look at the internet, which started with ARPANET in the United States. In 2007, we were far behind in survey of national internet speeds, and in 2010 we still were not even in the top 10. We may see improvements over time, but year after year we fall behind other countries. While we may have more people on the net than any other country, many advocates blame a lack of competition for our failing development. We have a near purely corporate-driven ISP system, but the marketplace thrives on regional monopoly rather than competitiveness, offering little or no incentive for service improvement. In the meantime, other countries plow ahead in the global marketplace.

Looking at the other end of the spectrum, small engineering feats emerge out of necessity -- at least, they are small in terms of scale and complexity, but they can be immense in terms of impact. A great example is the WaterCone (this one is slightly different than the AquaCone listed on the assignment page). It's a hard plastic cone that's designed to rest over a tray of water, collecting distilled vapors and condensing water into a ring around the base. The unit is user-friendly such that, to remove the water, one simply unscrews a cap on top and pours the water into a container. Such a simple yet effective technology has come out of the rising realization of a need for clean water in under-developed countries. The device can be created for about $30 and lasts about 5 years, and even that could be improved with further manufacturing and mass production techniques, making this an effective solution for providing clean water. Examples like these remind us that engineering is not just about creating immensely complex systems for a technological world. Engineering is also about finding simple solutions for huge problems in a highly unequal and challenging world.