Re: What is the most important engineering problem of our future?
 

Think of what would happen if the internet failed. No ChiefDelphi. :shivers:

Re: What is the most important engineering problem of our future?
 

That's a fair statement for todays conditions, but not going forward. Already our farmland is being converted from food sources to non-food product sources. Soy beans to diesel fuel, corn being used to make plastics . . . our main farmlands will become a battleground between producing enough food for a growing population and satisfying our desire to have unlimited cheap material resources.

The major engineering challenges for the future will be related to agriculture -- genetic engineering to squeeze greater yields per acre, hydrologic engineering to allow us to crop currently non-arable land, and bioengineering to create microorganisms that will turn any marginal bioresidue into useful product.

It doesn't matter when the price of oil becomes "too" high, it'll still take 3 generations before the population weans itself off the excess energy we think we need.

Re: What is the most important engineering problem of our future?
 

getting as much food per acre of land is still a dead end path, if the world population continues to increase.

If we scaled the population back, then none of these things you mentioned would be necessary.

Re: What is the most important engineering problem of our future?
 

Theoretically you have a point; it just doesn't work in practice. Even in dictated societies where population control has been tried, they only succeeded in slowing growth down, never actually stopping it.

You argument is similar to the old Zero Population Growth movement (something like 2.4 children per family) which would sustain the current world population numbers. But what about the "immortality dreams" of the future (i.e., nano-mechanisms that can enter cells and turn back the aging process). Right now, an expected lifespan is about 3 to 3.5 generations long and that is increasing. What happens when we increase that lifespan to 6 or more generations through improved medical technology? At some point the ZPG number will drop below 1.0 due to life expectancy itself. Unless something catestrophic happens (war or disease) the increase will continue.

Short term, this world needs to focus on renewable resources, including products from our farmlands, but this won't stop or control our population growth. The only long term answer to controlling the population on earth (that isn't inhumane) is to access new resources by populating other planets.

Re: What is the most important engineering problem of our future?
 

I hate to continue the thread down a side path, but...

I agree with Ken that population growth is going to be a big problem in the future. In many ways, it already is becoming a problem.

One problem that I see quite often is society's lack of acceptance of people that choose to not have children. Since my wife and I fall into this category, I have had to endure everyone's opinion on this (mostly negative). The one that gets me is that we are "selfish" for our choice. Since I agree with Ken's point about overpopulation, I hardly think that our choice is "selfish". In a lot of ways it's the opposite.

Anyway, I just want to give another "heads up" to people to have an open mind about other people's choices, and to not continue to spout old-fashioned beliefs without first thinking about them.

(As a side note, I support everyone else's choice to have kids. It just irks me when people think that what they choose to do is the "right way" to do things.)

Back to the thread:

I think the most important engineering problem of our future is to find a replacement for fossil fuels. Fossil fuel is used not only to fuel our vehicles, but also to generate electricity, heat our houses, run manufacturing plants, and also make things like plastics, medicines, and many other materials. It's amazing how much of our current lives depend on fossil fuels. The computer that you're using to read this thread depends heavily on polymers (plastics and rubber) that are made from petroleum.

The problem is that there still isn't a great substitute. Some reports state that corn-based fuels (such as ethanol) actually require more energy to produce them than they contain - that hardly makes it a sustainable energy source.

I really don't know what the answer is, but I hope that the answer is found before mass chaos sets in as the supplies are depleted. I recently read an article that estimates that the world's supply of oil will run out in about 20 years. That's pretty scary.

Re: What is the most important engineering problem of our future?
 

maybe technology could be used to address the population increase?

In the recent past couples had children to help with the farm or family business, and to insure that someone will be there to provide for their needs when they are old.

If a couple has no children who will be there for them when they need to be taken care of? Can technology address this?

Another reason why people have children is they want their ideas and beliefs to carry on after their death. We want our accomplishments to be remembered, and we want to be a part of molding future generations, as a parent, grandparent, etc.

What if a persons characteristics could be captured and emulated, by a computer generated character for example? I'm thinking along the lines of those star trek episodes where famous people from the past are re-created in the holodeck, for educational purposes. If a persons character and essence could be captured by a computer generated character, or even by a life-like robotic humanoid form, then in a sense the qualities and characteristics that we develop during our lives could live on after we die

and thereby to some extent, lessen the need to have children who will carry on after us?