1. WHAT MIGHT BE SOME OF THE “IMAGINED ORIGINS” OF ENGINEERING?

2. WHAT IS THE VIEW FROM NOWHERE? WHY IS IT DESIRABLE?

3. HOW MIGHT AN ENGINEER BE LIKE A PRIEST?

4. WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF SEPARATING THE TECHNICAL FROM THE SOCIAL?

1. By “imagined origins” the author means the inventions that was made possible due to engineering that
changed an era of human history. The inventions implied are some of the most consequential inventions
in human history. The National Academy of Engineering gives the example of advancements in
metallurgy that ended stone age and inventions of ships that allowed people to travel across the world.
2. The panel of scientist who were the authors of Grand Challenges did not have a diversity among them.
They were either engineers or scientists most of them work in corporate organizations or research
institutions, and only three of the eighteen committee members are women. That is why there is concern
of their opinions being “view from nowhere” because there could be biasness and acknowledgement of
the committee members’ own situatedness may have led to different conclusions about engineering
challenges and solutions.
3. The term “priest” is used to imply the role of engineers after the second world war. During that time
most of the world was in ruins, and engineers had a big role to play to build back the destroyed
infrastructures and economy. Since engineers will be leading this development, their role is more like of a
priest and save the civilization.
4. The advantage of separating technical from social is that “technical” tasks and knowledge can be
extracted from the “messiness” of the social world, and such technical realms are most prestigious and
meaningful to engineers. Therefore, the social issues don’t act as “roadblocks” for technical issues and
technical problems can be solved on its own.