True Progress

Given our daily bombardment with information, it is easy to become aware of potential threats to ourselves, but miss the resolution or the more complete explanations that follow afterward, which should put us at ease. Persistent doubts or inadvertent passing along of misinformation can lead us collectively to ignore what we know in fact (a little like the durable legend of tainted Halloween candy). Microwave ovens and cell phones (which also emit microwaves at a much lower wattage than the ovens) are thought by some to be potential causes of cancer or at least generally unhealthy additions to our modern lifestyle. This article will focus on the sources of these concerns and why (at least for now) we can leave these off of our worry list. Read the rest of this entry »

Introduction

Analyzing and controlling risk is one of the most important aspects of the engineering design process. These risks include health and safety, design robustness and reliability, maintainability, marketability, cost, schedule, and performance.

Yet, many of these risks are managed only by the intuition of the project manager or management team. While many are skilled enough to investigate and control most of these risks, the number of projects that fail to meet functional requirements, cost limits, scheduled deadlines, reliability expectations, or other thing, serves as testament to the fact that the complexity of risk management on modern projects is beyond the capabilities of our current system of doing things. Read the rest of this entry »

What is the difference, and does it matter?

Whether implementing a new technology or attempting to solve a problem we currently face in the world or even just making mundate decisions about our daily activities, we continually make judgements about the risks we face. With our liminted resources, time, and skill we choose to limit some of our exposure to risk and accept others. But, when making those decisions, we open ourselves to psychological biases about risk and often make a decision that puts us in a poorer position than we otherwise would have been. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the benefits to service in the Peace Corps is that you find yourself during your service in a region of the world that you probably would not have visited otherwise with the opportunity and some time to take advantage of those adventures all around. Read the rest of this entry »

Why considering a monetary value of life is not only acceptable, but morally necessary

Typically, the first time we consider someone placing a monetary value on protecting a life, the risk of death, or other similar circumstances, we cringe. The mere mention of life in the context of money seems cruel and far too calculating. Rightly, we have learned that an absolute monetary value cannot be placed on the worth of a person whether young or old, experienced or inexperienced, whatever race they are or religion they hold. This article is not going to challenge any of those ethics. Life is a priceless phenomenon and every person’s experience is something to be held at the pinnacle of our value system. Read the rest of this entry »