The Coliseum - tangible evidence of durable Roman engineering.
Many examples of Roman
engineering have survived
over two millennia
yet remain impressive
even to sophisticated contemporary
engineers. Aqueducts carrying water
from the mountains to the Eternal City
can still arouse admiration for the way
the Romans achieved their goals by
surmounting grades and valleys without
the advantage of electric pumping
systems. Admittedly they used slave
labour, when such brutality was commonplace.
Roman engineers endowed their
projects with artistry as well as engineering
ingenuity. The English city of
Bath is a precise adjectival reminder
that Roman engineering can still
impress and indeed, endure for centuries.
The Roman baths in that city are
still in use providing millions annually
in tourist dollars, pounds and euros. A
Scottish engineer once told me that
some of the famous Roman fountains,
still in use, were also pressure-relief
devices as well as sculptural masterpieces.
Most ancient projects themselves
are admired mainly for their
artistry with little understanding of the
benefits conferred by the engineering
of roads, aqueducts, bridges, stadiums
and water infrastructure.
It is a fool’s game to predict the
future but certain factors emerge when
nations thrive: commerce, culture,
education. literature and research, to
name but five; but even these are not
effective unless combined with a fair
judicial system where property rights,
including intellectual properties, are
protected.
It is ironic that at a time when the
global economy is mentioned virtually
every day, a new controversial thesis
has emerged in a book: The World is
Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-
First Century by Thomas Friedman.
Reviewer David Ticoll argued in the
Globe & Mail that the web-enabled
world is changing the face of international
commerce with open-sourcing,
out-sourcing and other manifest
changes such as nanotechnology.
The pace of progress has been staggering.
Who could have predicted tiny
portable phones which can also act as
cameras, play music and allow text
messaging and be affordable by
teenagers? Who could have predicted
that Europe would design and fly a
new Airbus which is vastly bigger than
Boeing 747s? Technology is now
impacting on virtually all industrial
activities, lowering costs and vastly
improving manufacturing processes,
including the way this magazine is produced.
Everything from research, writing,
getting contributions by e-mail,
copy editing and graphic designs are
now produced in-house.
Now in its 18th year, Environmental
Science & Engineering, began life with a
small computer used for writing which was
later composed in ‘cold type’ at the printer’s
shop. This ‘cold type’ was later photographed
and turned into film in a laborious
process which today’s young journalists
have never even heard of.
Press day required two heavy boxes
of film and pasted layouts being
lugged to the printer where they then
underwent yet other processes before
the presses could roll.
Compare this to the May 2005 issue
of ES&E which contained 88 pages and
everything - including typesetting, photographs,
and advertisements – was
conveyed to the printer on two CDs
weighing a mere few grams. This is a
quantum leap in printing which
Gutenberg would not have recognized.
Conversely even as late as 30 years
ago, typesetting was done in molten
lead, the first of several laborious
stages in the printing process of transmuting
ideas from authors to readers, a
process which Gutenberg certainly
would have immediately recognized.
North America became a global
leader in research and commerce with
unmatched academic facilities and
engineering. Like the Romans,
American engineers impressed the
world with such epic projects as the
Panama Canal and the Hoover Dam.
The US also invented the world’s first
skyscrapers which were a symbiotic
structural breakthrough made feasible
only by the invention of the elevator
which in turn was the step child of
electrical engineering, a discipline
leading to French and Japanese high
speed super trains.
Canada so far, is doing quite well,
despite huge wastage through political
blundering and corruption and patronage
such as that emerging from the
Gomery Enquiry. Canada prospered
largely because of its abundant water
and agricultural resources, plus its
engineering expertise which is impressive.
Canadian engineers built the St.
Lawrence Seaway; harnessed electrical
power from Niagara Falls; built the CN
Tower and other major projects. An
important social factor was the relatively
low crime rates of Canadian citizens and its well educated and
skilled work force.
But those who ignore the mistakes
of the past are doomed to repeat them
- and there are warning signs emerging.
China enjoys significant tourist dollars from its Great Wall... palpable evidence that nations can fall from the commanding heights of power, to nationwide poverty, only to rise again.
Today, warns Thomas Friedman, the
percentage of US enrolments in science
and mathematics is declining,
while demand for such expertise grows
five percent annually. The proportion
of US engineering graduates currently
hovers around five percent compared
to 25 percent in Russia and 46 percent
in China. Economically, Russia is not
doing well because of some turbulent
legacies from political instability yet
China is enjoying an unprecedented
surge in its manufacturing sector, ranging
from shirts to high value technology
projects such as the Three Gorges
Dam now reaching completion.
Meanwhile China also enjoys significant
tourist dollars from its centuries-
old Great Wall of China. This
wall is palpable evidence that nations
can fall from the commanding heights
of power, to nation-wide poverty, only
to rise again. It is, perhaps, a warning
that Canadians cannot take our current
prosperity for granted.
Economically, the world, according
to Thomas Friedman, is flat, an imaginative
metaphor for the complexities
of the web-based global playing field.
This also means a level playing field
which could seriously impact our current
high standards to living. Canadians
should prepare to compete against new
forces entering the world’s economies.
Education in science and technology
and the integrity of the judicial system
will be our best weapons in any trade
wars.
See our home page on how to order your subscription. We regret we can
only accept orders from Canada.
