3 ms·
> ...as the constraints of the solution space go from physical (tension, voltage, pressure) to non-physical (interpersonal relations, public perception, aesthet
by klodolph 5y ago
> ...as the constraints of the solution space go from physical (tension, voltage, pressure) to non-physical (interpersonal relations, public perception, aesthetic judgment), the activity goes from more engineer-y to less engineer-y.
This would put industrial engineering deeply in "less engineer-y" territory, IMO.
I think someone is very engineer-y when they pick a simple, easy bridge design which requires less skilled labor to produce, even if this takes them away from working with more juicy physics problems.
- Tossrock 5y agoI think I would agree with that (industrial / process engineering is "less" engineer-y than, say, mechanical engineering), but since they're still optimizing against measurable physical constraints (how many chiller units can we fit in this section of the warehouse, how long does it take a worker to move from the freight deck to the storage racks, etc), I think they're over my personal line. But of course, drawing sharp category boundaries is a losing game, which is why I prefer to think in terms of axes / vector spaces.
- klodolph 5y agoI think "drawing sharp category boundaries is a losing game" is as close as we are going to get to a clear lesson, here.