Critical Engineering

5. The Critical Engineer recognises that each work of engineering engineers its user, proportional to that user’s dependency upon it.

This tenet expresses how the people who use these ‘works of engineering’ are in fact ‘used’ by the works themselves – in the sense that they allow themselves to be so easily shaped by their own devices. I find this tenet interesting and see a lot of truth in it because I believe that there is always a special dialogue in the interaction between the user and the creation. Utilitarian creations, in particular, have had a great impact on the lives of humans – and I feel that our lifestyles have been firmly molded by the objects we have made for ourselves.

Take, for instance, cell phones: whenever I go out I see people of different ages immersed in their tiny boxes of plastic and circuitry. Even I, on occasion, allow myself to get lost in the world offered by this small box when I feel the need to pass the time. Why do we do this? Well, what else can we do while we wait for our meal at the restaurant or stand in a long line at the grocery? Over the years, we seemed to have developed a dependency on our mobile devices, seeking a quick relief from the boredom of the outside world by going to the one presented on a 3-inch LCD screen. The question is whether we have conditioned ourselves to do this, or the item has conditioned us.