Notably, it was not a super advanced weapon of mass destruction that brought the Cold War to a close, but a chain of human protests and demonstrations that rose to cause the USSR to implode. It turned out that the priority shouldn't have been focusing on something more devastating than an atomic bomb.
Instead of trying to forge shock-based weapons systems, we should be looking to use technology and engineering to help improve the quality of life of the everyday human. I think what Dr. Goldberg is trying to say is more than anything, today we are not living in a world where the goal is to survive. We are living in an era where we have the ability to thrive.
The Missing Basics is perhaps the difference between the mindsets of engineers trying to stay alive and engineers trying to improve life. "Improving life" sounds broad, and indeed it is; therefore we need creativity and diligence, what I interpret as an umbrella for the Missing Basics.
These MB are:
- How to ask questions
- How to label data
- How to model
- How to decompose big problems
- How to measure
- How to communicate
Communication
I know this much about myself: I think faster than I talk, and when I talk, I stop thinking. I often find that people I work with find it hard to understand what I mean, and they ask me what I mean. When I try to explain (talk) I stop thinking and even I sometimes lose track of what I'm trying to explain. This happens the most often in Math discussions.
I'm taking 2 courses that have discussion sections, so this semester I definitely plan to practice talking - a lot.
Asking Questions
I am interested in many areas of technology. One of them is naturally the television. When we still had the bulky cathode ray TVs around, I remember wishing that I could jump into the world on TV. How could I make it feel more real? How could I make TV better? At the time, I could find no answers to such questions (in my defense, I was 10) but of course, great engineers have answered those two questions time and time again, as we have seen with the continuous improvement of televisions, from cathode ray, to plasma, to LCD, and now the newest trend LED. LED TVs are the most energy efficient, brightest, thinnest, lightest, and most pleasant to view televisions to date. Well, I'm quite sure the engineers at Toshiba, Samsung, Sony, etc. didn't just ask "how could this be better?" I'd like to find out what they were asking.
There are no brilliant opportunities for me to get into a team of great engineers at the moment, let alone the thought of just observing them work and think. But, as I proceed with some degree of creativity in making a steam car with my team, I will get lots of practice in asking questions, and practice, eventually, makes perfect.
Breaking down big problems
Especially in the last few years of high school, I have met numerous roadblocks. Several times, I passed these by luck, others, I was stopped dead in my tracks. In retrospect, what did hold me back was trivial - if only I had seen the inner workings of these roadblocks. If I could see the reasons why the roadblock existed in the first place, then essentially I would know what was keeping such roadblocks standing in place. Then, bit by bit, it would be possible to start unscrewing here, cutting the string there, until eventually the roadblock collapses.
In my extra-curricular activities (yet to be finalized) I expect to meet many such roadblocks. I have found that student organizations tend to encounter the most of these, so my goal is to find my way to a leadership position in an RSO, or at least know what the leaders of the RSO are doing to overcome any obstacles they encounter, thus learning new ways to decompose problems.
Cheers,
