The Engineer's Burden: Why Changing the World is Difficult

We will examine the assertion that most of the changes that have improved people's lives are essentially technological and then we will look at the difficulties in creating sustainable and beneficial change. Topics of interest include unintended consequences, failure to consider local culture, and engineering ethics. Many, but not all, of the examples will have a third world context. The engineering focus will be on infrastructure--housing, water and sanitation, transportation, and also mobile devices as used in health care and banking.