[Andrew Blair]

The problem with engineering is that most people cannot feel that they are vicariously participating in it. NASCAR fans, I'll bet, like to imagine sometimes that on their way to work, they're driving at Daytona. Others love the feeling when a shot is is sunk from half court. People feel engaged and exhilarated when James Bond narrowly escapes death at the hands of Baron Semedi.

Engineering simply does not have that pull. It's challenging, interesting, awe-inspiring, but it lacks one important factor- the average Joe pushing pencils doesn't feel that they could ever do something like that. They are excited by whats being done, but they lack that personal, important connection where they feel like the person under the spotlight. It's very hard to convey the exhilaration felt when a machine or piece of software performs as it should, perhaps millions of miles away from home, after months or years of work. Sure, people on the moon are cool, and you can imagine bouncing up and down across the vast lunar surface, but you can't feel the tension lifting after you realize that you *haven't* just killed you colleagues on a barren world thousands of miles away.

Engineering will never pull the publics *undivided* attention because it's unintimate. It may awe them for awhile, but all toys soon lose their appeal.