Nicholas J.

Tuttle
Debra Jizi
UWRT-1103
December 8, 2015
EIP Research Essay
Innovation is sweeping the nation. Whether it be in your home or at the workplace,
everything has been improved. The problem is, has everything really been changing for the
better? I have had a love affair with the idea of innovation since high school. Honestly it is the
reason I am in college. As a systems engineering major, I will be employed to improve and
innovate. Through copious amounts of research, I found my love affair, may be more of a
romantic tragedy.
I began my research looking into the basics of innovation. As Bob Rosenfeld states,
Innovation starts when people convert problems to ideas. New ideas are born through questions,
problems and obstacles. In order for the innovation process to flourish, it needs a climate that
encourages inquiry and welcomes problems.(Rosenfeld.) This idea of innovation is pretty
universal, innovation solves problems. I enjoy resolving errors and making things nearly perfect.
There is unfortunately an increasingly grey area when defining a problem. How narrow is our
definition of an issue?
This question took me onto my next source, where do these solutions originate? Award
winning innovator Steven Johnson explains this in his video Where Good Ideas Come From.
Johnson describes connection as the primary fuel for innovation. If there is no form of

communication, good ideas are lost. Steven also explains why the Enlightenment and other
events were so powerful for ideas; individual minds came together to create ingenious ones.
(Johnson.) Knowing that effective ideas come from communicating, it only makes sense that the
internet has been making waves for innovation. This acceleration of problem solving can
become finicky, because most first world issues are loosely considering problematic. Knowing
this information, I wanted to know how I could use innovation for a public good.
In Vicki Sellicks article: Innovation for the Public Good, she tackles the five essentials of
innovation. She lists several innovative companies and shows that popular companies, such as
Apple do not tackle social issues. Companies that deal with the public sectors have a harder time
getting traction and funding. (Sellick) Of course, I should not be surprised. Improving leisure
items will always be popular. However, I began to realize that practicality and ease could have
a negative effect. This is the point where I realized how our current state of innovation could be
harmful. If we become obsessed with making the world easier, could there be a replacement for
us? This is where my love story becomes tragic.
One might ask, how could your passion ever be seen as tragic? The answer is quite
simple, my final destination could be one of destruction. Modern technology has brought forth an
unfathomable amount of advances. The leaps we are making as a species is dubious to say the
least. The mechanical minds and muscles which we are creating, may inevitably replace us. I
personally do not believe robotics will take over the world, but they will overtake menial jobs
soon.
While we engineers think we are making life easier we could perpetually make it too
easy. My original intent with this essay was to find what I could do for the common good. In my
mind I saw my role as a noble one. However, engineers will be putting people out of work. In an

amazing video titled Humans Need Not Apply they discuss how serious the issue is. We could
easily replace forty-five percent of the current workforce with machines. (Humans...) The video
depicts a world without low paying jobs which could throw society into chaos.
Is that scary? It should be. I used to think we will make more jobs and everything will
be fine but those jobs are low demand. Low skill jobs dominate the workforce and because of
our advancements, those people will be unemployed by a cheaper, more reliable machines. This
could harm America more than the great depression. This is where the tragedy comes in. Yes, I
see the possible impending doom of a robotic takeover, but I thoroughly enjoy creating them.
It is tragic in the sense that what I love, and hoped would help the world, may cause nothing but
destruction.
Only having a set amount of sources limits the amount of depth I could have on this
topic. Personally, I have been researching this for years. I am currently a systems engineer in the
making, the study of improving systems. I have chosen this because it is an all-encompassing
form of engineering, I could use it for any job that peaks my interest. At first I thought there
will be more jobs than ever due to innovation, why is unemployment a concern?, until I looked
at the big picture. People like myself, engineers, are advancing society too fast. This idea of
improvement is something that I have always strived for. If we look at our society in a broader
scope and really digest our advancements it is astonishing
I started my research getting a basic understanding of innovation. Gathering an
understanding for the textbook definition. It is outstanding in theory. Take something already
useful and capitalize upon it, genius. Many of the experts I have mentioned have talked about the
positive connotation of innovation. Amazingly, my final source pulled me to a new perspective

on my dream job. I was enraptured by the idea of using my passion for the public good and then
realized I would be doing the opposite.
In the end I think the evidence showing how rapid technology growth is compared to
human ability is very probable that we are over-innovating. I think this will definitely change
how I feel about engineering going into the future. Honestly it should change how everyone feels
about the future of jobs. The approaching end for the need of humans is coming faster than we
realize, due to innovation and over-advancement.

Works Cited
Candussi, Massimo, and Neil Maiden. "2. From Creativity to Innovation: The Importance of
Design." Enterprise Innovation. By Michele Missikoff. N.p.: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
N. pag. Print.

Hill, Linda. "How Visionary Leaders Can Stifle Innovation." Huffington Post 1 July 2015,
Business sec.: n. pag. Print.

Humans Need Not Apply. Prod. CGP Grey. Youtube. Youtube, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU>.

Johnson, Steven. "WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM." Youtube. RiverheadBooks, 17 Sept.
2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU>.

Rosenfeld, Bob. "The Essence of Innovation: 5 Principles." Audio blog post. Center for Creative
Leadership. Center for Creative Leadership, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
<http://insights.ccl.org/multimedia/podcast/the-essence-of-innovation-5-principles/>.

Sellick, Vicki. "Innovation for the Public Good: The Five Keys to Innovation." Innovation for
the Public Good: The Five Keys to Innovation. The Young Foundation, Oct. 2011. Web.
16 Nov. 2015. <http://youngfoundation.org/publications/innovation-for-the-public-goodthe-five-keys-to-innovation/>.