Scientists vs. Engineers - Why can't we get along?

Mad Grad Student · 2005-01-08 00:02:15

This is a bit old, but I hadn't seen this particular editorial linked to yet.
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-05a … ngineering War

Apparently no one, not even the US's most brilliant scientists can stand anyone who's different from them even slightly. It's bad enough that many of the scientists can't see the potential benefits of having an actual (get this!) living, breathing human on the surface conducting experiments, but they're really going to far in my opinion with this APS report. They are effectively stabbing themselves in the back, trying to stop the one program that has a snowball's chance on Venus of getting any any attention or money off the ground.

The most disgusting thing the article mentions, IMHO, is how overwhelmingly partisan even something as supposedly objective as science is. Despite the fact that we finally have a real, workable, supportable program to take the ultimate robots (humans) to the Moon and Mars, no one can stand it because it came from (horrors!) a republican. Of course, everybody just knows that every idea a republican will come up with is bad, just because they're republicans (Ewww). At least, it's obvious if you're a scientist.

I don't see why so many people have a hard time accepting good ideas and rejecting bad ones wherever they come from. If it's from their party or group, many seem to fall behind a concept automatically, and just as automatically oppose any concept from an apposing group. For some reason, fans of space exploration seem to be split into two groups, the scientists and the engineers. The scientists are in awe at the universe and just want to explore it, not caring about the machines that take them there, while engineers want to build the machines to take humanity across the solar system, while caring less about what's actually there. These guys are perpetually at war with each other, why? Why can't I be both, the guy enamored by the cosmos and the creator of the rockets and at the same time?

It would be generally better if we humans weren't as good at hating each other as we are...

Euler · 2005-01-08 00:29:21

The scientists don't seem to realize that one of the main reasons why people want to learn about space is that so people can eventually live there. If someone could just make them figure that out, then they might begin to support manned space exploration, and that would be good for both the scientists and the engineers.

GCNRevenger · 2005-01-08 10:33:05

Going to adopt my Venutian euphamism MGS? Heh

I imagine the robot people are so enamored with their contraptions that they have forgotten how much more efficent a human is. Give a well educated field geologist a day or two at the MER landing sites and he could tell you there was water, not a month or so of creaking along inch by inch.

NASA is still trying to figure out why nobody cares about the ISS though... unless you've got an O'Neil colony with asteroid volitile mining in mind, then "living" in orbit will never be more then an outpost of Earth. And even then, that isn't really a new "world" to expand into if you have to build it... and never will be on the same scale as Earth.

John Creighton · 2005-01-08 11:29:33

I don’t know if science/engineering is the best way to classify the division. Take the robotics example. Which camp to people that support robotic missions fall under and why? Any good scientist should recognize how improved equipment will enhance its work.

Dook · 2005-01-09 17:22:40

The scientists don't seem to realize that one of the main reasons why people want to learn about space is that so people can eventually live there.

What person would want to leave the earth to live in space? Oh yeah, everyone would instantly trade the earth to spend out their lives trapped in a container surrounded by incredible temperature swings, almost absolute zero in the shade and 400+ in direct sunlight. Constantly bombarded with radiation and energetic particles. Stale air. Little privacy. No nature. The same old faces and people day after day, year after year. Your best friend a computer screen that shows once familiar faces.

I'll never understand that kind of thinking.

Commodore · 2005-01-09 19:23:50

The scientists don't seem to realize that one of the main reasons why people want to learn about space is that so people can eventually live there.
What person would want to leave the earth to live in space? Oh yeah, everyone would instantly trade the earth to spend out their lives trapped in a container surrounded by incredible temperature swings, almost absolute zero in the shade and 400+ in direct sunlight. Constantly bombarded with radiation and energetic particles. Stale air. Little privacy. No nature. The same old faces and people day after day, year after year. Your best friend a computer screen that shows once familiar faces.
I'll never understand that kind of thinking.

Thats not the goal at all. The goal is to recreate all the wonderful things on Earth someplace else, because they can not be infinately sustained here.

MarsDog · 2005-01-10 04:54:52

Life expands wherever it can; And transforms the environment.

Constantly bombarded with radiation and energetic particles. Stale air. Little privacy. No nature.

I would not be suprised if the first crew to Mars changed the focus from extensive scientific exploration to safety and comfort.

Man was only comfortable in a rain forest type of environment, but adapted elsewhere. Mars and the Moon, another opportunity.

SpaceNut · 2005-01-10 06:13:40

Kind of like what just transpired aboard the ISS with the recent food shortage...
When is science no longer science but is the norm needed to sustain to quest for knowlegde of any topic? When does science become the main stream of research use and is no longer science?
Science is the investigation of the unknown.. used to observe and to solve the puzzle of the unexplained.
Scientists are engineers but rather of the explorationary kind, they ask the question of why, of what, and reason to a solution in engineering terms.

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#1 2005-01-08 00:02:15

Re: Scientists vs. Engineers - Why can't we get along?

#2 2005-01-08 00:29:21

Re: Scientists vs. Engineers - Why can't we get along?

#3 2005-01-08 10:33:05

Re: Scientists vs. Engineers - Why can't we get along?

#4 2005-01-08 11:29:33

Re: Scientists vs. Engineers - Why can't we get along?

#5 2005-01-09 17:22:40

Re: Scientists vs. Engineers - Why can't we get along?

#6 2005-01-09 19:23:50

Re: Scientists vs. Engineers - Why can't we get along?

#7 2005-01-10 04:54:52

Re: Scientists vs. Engineers - Why can't we get along?

#8 2005-01-10 06:13:40

Re: Scientists vs. Engineers - Why can't we get along?

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