By Prateek Mishra:
Today the consequences of human creativity in the areas of engineering, technology, and science have reached measures that only a few decades ago were unimaginable (e.g., telecommunication, genetic engineering, biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technologies, artificial intelligence). This capacity and development means an enormous amount of Power and Power can be tamed only with responsibility, obligation and accountability.
It is always expected from an engineer to keep the well being of the society in his/her mind, while designing new plans and implementing them, issues such as:
> Health and safety of common men,
> Pollution of all kinds,
> Depletion of resources,
> Energy policy,
> Nuclear power generation and waste disposal,
> Privacy,
> Economic and social aspects of advanced technology and automation,
> Educational aspects of the impact of technology.
These points must be considered, because the development that we aspire can’t be visualized if the basics are not met, we very well know that the higher the building is to be built deeper the foundation is dug.
The fact of living in a complex, global, and intercultural world coupled with the unquestionable technological power wielded by governments and societies, make it necessary that engineers amplify the horizon of their technical knowledge with humanistic values and harmonize their specialized innovations and development with knowledge of the norms, principles, and ideals of ethics, it becomes moral duty of engineers to work for the betterment of society and to implement their knowledge for constructive purposes only. An engineer who is working for a particular firm or person should not blindly follow the orders of his employer, he should not act like a “hired gun” rather if something is going wrong then he must object, we must remember that society comes above individual gain. An engineer is ought to be morally correct and considerate of the responsibility endowed onto him to change the past into a better future. In the moral sense, responsibility is a virtue: a “responsible person” is careful, considerate, and trustworthy; common citizen rely on engineers, so if engineers do there job diligently they are being more than competent; in serving fellow humans, and serving them well is being good and honest to their profession. All the professions are given liberty to work autonomously for the betterment of society, a common person blindly follows the advice of a professional be it a doctor, lawyer, teacher or engineer and this liberty to decide the fate of society should not be made a mockery.
Thus, a responsible and competent engineer is one who is responsible for balanced development of society, nation and nature; he/she should be well informed about his field, should think for common people and be diligent towards his/her work. Always remember if we are not paying back to our roots then we are being a defaulter and defaulters have no where to survive.
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