The Applicability Of Engineering Design Principles In Formulating A Coherent Cosmology And Worldview

Recently, concepts from the field of design engineering have been found extremely useful in many areas of science. From the very large aspects of the universe (i.e. big bang cosmology and galactic and stellar evolution) to the very small (i.e. the fitness of the chemical elements and the life-codes found in DNA), the cosmos is so readily and profitably reverse-engineered as to suggest that it may have been engineered in the first place. The linking of extraordinarily complex, but stable functional structures with the production of value provides a strong impression of the action of a transcendent, yet calculating, intentionality. The most coherent view of the cosmos appears to be that of an engineered system of interdependent subsystems that efficiently interact to prepare for, develop, and support advanced life, subject to various constraints. Considerations of intention and purpose in natural science have recently been disallowed, and yet our world seems to be infused with purpose. The cosmological quest benefits from the integration of knowledge from all areas of study, including those that consider questions of purpose, such as design engineering. The synthesis of this knowledge that provides the most satisfying answers for the human condition is one that admits the recognition of purpose, and possibly the existence of an (as yet, not-well-understood) engineering influence. In a course for engineering majors at our university, students are encouraged to integrate their knowledge of science and engineering with the development of a coherent cosmology and worldview. A major component of this course includes the recognition of engineering design characteristics in nature. Characteristics such as stability, predictability, reliability, transparency, controllability, efficiency, and optimality are found in nearly all human-engineered systems. These characteristics are also prevalent throughout the integrated and finely-tuned systems that make up the cosmos. Examples of such are studied by the students, and presented in what follows. Students are challenged to weigh the evidence supporting various explanations for the current structures and resulting values found in the universe. In so doing they make the most of their technical education, and find motivation for a fulfilling and hopeful life of meaning, purpose, and service to humanity, as a deep-thinking engineer. Engineering Impact on Worldview As early human beings discovered the basic workings of nature, they also learned how to use their creativity to put those discoveries to work in solving the everyday problems of life. Hence the fledgling field of engineering was born. Throughout the millennia, scientific discoveries have continued to fuel the fires of engineering industry. In recent years, the closely-related fields of science and engineering have enjoyed enormous success. The maturity of these fields has enabled current practitioners to deliver a potential productivity and quality of life which was hardly dreamed of a hundred years ago. Nature has proven to be incredibly bountiful and profoundly deep in providing mankind with an array of challenging puzzles to solve. Human mental capacity and insatiable curiosity make it difficult to resist these mysteries, especially after repeatedly experiencing how their unraveling results in such incredible satisfaction, fruitfulness, and profitability 1,2 . Could it be that the realm of nature and the human mind were, in some sense, P ge 13201.2 made for each other; possibly for the purpose of communicating important truths? This idea goes a long way toward explaining the fine-tuning of the cosmos for life, and the success humans have had in reverse engineering the cosmos. It is proposed that engineering design principles, along with “the engineering mindset”, can be profitably applied to establish a coherent understanding of the fundamental nature of the cosmos and the place of humanity within it. This paper represents the start of an ambitious project which necessarily draws upon many fields of knowledge, but what better way to use the diverse and abundant resources of the university setting. An interdisciplinary course has been introduced to assist and encourage students to incorporate techniques and information from technical courses in the formulation of a comprehensive and coherent worldview. Engineering graduates who have wrestled with these concepts are believed to be better equipped and motivated to live a fulfilling life of hope, purpose and service to humanity. The Philosopher Engineer It is particularly important for engineering students to begin to establish a coherent worldview upon which to base their life’s work. Sir Eric Ashby, a British scientist and educator wrote that The engineer is the key figure in the material progress of the world. It is his engineering that makes a reality of the potential value of science by translating scientific knowledge into tools, resources, energy and labor to bring them into the service of man ... To make contributions of this kind the engineer requires the imagination to visualize the needs of society and to appreciate what is possible as well as the technological and broad social age understanding to bring his vision to reality. 3 This idea was echoed recently by Domenico Grasso, the Dean of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Vermont, in an article entitled “Is It Time to Shut Down Engineering Colleges?” Consider the following exert. ...engineers need to grow beyond their traditional roles as problem-solvers to become problem-definers. To catalyze this shift, our engineering curriculum, now packed with technical courses, needs a fresh start. Today’s engineers must be educated to think broadly in fundamental and integrative ways about the basic tenets of engineering. If we define engineering as the application of math and science in service to humanity, these tenets must include study of the human condition, the human experience, the human record. 4 When the engineering mindset is complemented with a broader education in the humanities, it becomes a valuable asset for assessing various views of the world, and greatly informs problem solving activities. In his book, The Introspective Engineer, Sam Florman writes that the universe presents itself to us as a mystery to be studied and acted upon. Later he adds that “...although engineering relies upon science and mathematical verities, in the end it responds to the demands of the human spirit.” 5 The broadening of engineering education, and its implications for the areas P ge 13201.3 of worldview formation and philosophy, will better equip engineers to meet the needs and desires of the human spirit. Reverse Systems Engineering of Nature What might lead one to suspect that ideas from the field of engineering can be helpful in developing a coherent worldview? Well, normally, information from scientific discoveries is funneled into the development of engineered products for the benefit of humanity. But recently an unusual turnabout in the flow of practical information is being realized. Concepts from the field of design engineering, and the engineering mindset, have been found to be extremely useful in areas of science such as cellular biology. As an example, consider a leading microbiology researcher with the Scripps Institute, Dr. Gaudenz Danuser, who was trained as an engineer, but as a graduate student, became fascinated with the way engineering principles were so useful in understanding the inner workings of the cell. Now he successfully conducts what he calls “reverse systems engineering of dynamic cellular processes” 6 . The concept of “reverse systems engineering” that he employs in describing his approach is significant. Systems engineering is defined as “an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems” 7 . Reverse engineering is the design analysis of system components and their interrelationships within a higher level system 8 . Basically, it is the process of extracting the engineering knowledge or design blueprints from anything that has been engineered 9 . Thus reverse systems engineering can be described as a multidisciplinary endeavor to extract engineering design knowledge from a complex system consisting of multiple interacting subsystems that have been synthesized to work together as an integrated unit. A simple version of this type of activity is often seen in children when they take things apart to see how they work, and is illustrated by the following quote by Kathryn Ingle, a systems engineer, As long as people have wanted to understand what makes things work, there have been those curious enough to tear apart that which is a mystery to them. To fully understand a design it is important to disassemble the original item and then try to put the puzzle back together. During the disassembly stage one hopes to discover the hidden secrets by finding the mechanism, or mechanisms, that make it work. Whatever it is that makes it valuable stirs the human imagination which desires to possess its secrets by seeking and finding the keys to unlock its magic. 10 Methods and techniques for reverse engineering are described in texts such as Product Design: Techniques in Reverse Engineering 11 by Kevin Otto and Kristen Wood. Such techniques are proving to be useful when applied to natural systems, although they were originally intended for man-made systems. Could this be because the molecular machinery found in living systems so closely resembles man-made technology such as “motors, drive shafts, pipes, pumps, production lines, and programmable control systems” 12 . Author Mike Gene carefully documents this recent convergence between biology and engineering in his book: The Design Matrix: A Consilience of Clues 13 . Indeed, natural systems at all levels are so readily and profitably reverse-engineered by the human mind as to suggest that such systems