Life As an Engineer

Schools and universities teach the principles of linear thinking on the basis of which, given any type of system, it's always possible to find a mathematical operation that represents the system's behavior in all possible situations. This mental approach generates an entire series of more than slightly important consequences. Foremost is the conviction that everything which isn't quantifiable has no value and, therefore, must be neglected, should be excluded from any form of knowledge...
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Schools and universities teach the principles of linear thinking on the basis of which, given any type of system, it's always possible to find a mathematical operation that represents the system's behavior in all possible situations. This mental approach generates an entire series of more than slightly important consequences. Foremost is the conviction that everything which isn't quantifiable has no value and, therefore, must be neglected, should be excluded from any form of knowledge that wishes to be considered science. The mechanistic (or reductionist) vision of reality has brought about a radicalization to the concept of specialization and to its abuse. In a company, there are specialists for each department or function, and no one has the knowledge anymore of the various processes as a whole, from the beginning to the end. No one goes to the general practitioner for a medical check-up anymore, they go instead to specialized centers, where they are controlled by - in alphabetical order - the cardiologist, dermatologist, dentist, ear-nose & throat specialist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, hematologist, internist, neurologist, ophthalmologist, orthopedist and even the podiatrist, but not the psychologist, faithful to the conviction that body and mind are two completely separate parts and, if one feels pain in his body, the cause cannot by any means have anything at all to do with the soul. As an alternative to the linear, Cartesian, reductionist or mechanic way of thinking the author explains the so-called holistic or da Vinci-like approach. Engineers inspired by such a vision will learn by doing, through their experiences, and will therefore sharpen their senses: to see while looking, to hear while listening, to feel while touching, to sniff while smelling. They will develop an attitude of insatiable interest toward life, an inextinguishable thirst to know. They will stimulate the commitment to verifying knowledge through experience and the desire to learn through errors. They will feel encouraged to embrace doubt, paradox and uncertainty, and to search for equilibrium between science and art, between logic and imagination and between right and left hemispheres. They will never neglect the interconnection of all things and all phenomena and, therefore, will look to widen their own visual. Through the art of contemplation, the engineer is able to listen to a picture with each of the artist's brushstrokes, to look at a song and perceive the color of each note. He is able to discover that there isn't just a masculine timeline that is developed with the succession of past, present, and future. There is also another, circular, feminine, that evolves like a spiral and is perceived as an expanded present that holds within itself the past and future, and doesn't force us at all toward that annoying sensation of continual running that seems unavoidable to us. An engineer who is capable of a similar vision of time would have unimaginable potential. He would be able to see and live the future that he knowingly chooses now, he would quit projecting his obsessions of the past and his present desires onto a perspective linear future that he can't touch, and would concentrate his spiritual resources on searching for his own self, on his capacity for social relationships with others and for others.