LAME OGAUFI MORUPISI

18000508
GEME 521
ENGINEERING BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

INTERCONNECTION BETWEEN SOCIETAL NEEDS AND SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND

THE ROLE OF ENGINEERING BETWEEN THEM

Societal needs refer to all the essential things or necessities that are needed for individuals to survive
and live a healthy life. For example, food, water, and shelter. Scientific knowledge is knowledge that
is accumulated by systematic study and is organized by known general principles. The terms
described above are interconnected in such a way that society values science as scientific knowledge
helps to solve many human basic needs. One of the benefits of scientific knowledge on societal needs
is that it leads to technological advancements which leads to the production of machines which lead to
mass production of food. Using machines saves time and cost of manufacturing and hence more food
can be produced in a short period of time. This means that there will be enough food for everyone.
Contrary to that, using machines in production leads to unemployment because the machines will now
do all the work that could have been done by many people, hence taking away a source of income
from the people which leads to poverty. One other benefit is that scientific knowledge improves
medical advancements [CITATION Mex21 \l 1033 ] . Humans are prone to falling sick and hence
medicine is of paramount importance as it helps to save peoples lives. For example, the creation of
Penicillin by the scientist Alexander Fleming helped to save many people’s lives as it treats bacterial
infections like pneumonia and whooping cough [ CITATION Rya20 \l 1033 ]. Treatment of water is also
beneficial to the society as people will now have access to clean water which is a basic need.
Treatment of water comes about as a result of scientific knowledge proving that the two are
interconnected.
Engineering plays a significant role in both societal needs and scientific knowledge. Engineering is
the use of scientific knowledge to build and design structures and other items in order to solve
identified problems. It depends greatly on scientific knowledge because before there can be any new
innovation there has to be a hypothesis which must be proved first. If the hypothesis is viable then
there can be an innovation. Engineers formulate responses to social needs[ CITATION Geo21 \l 1033 ].
For example, for an engineering project to start there has to be a problem defined beforehand. A
problem may be that, during the rainy reasons too much water covers the roads and it is difficult to
cross to the other side hence disrupting day to day activities. An engineering solution to this problem
would be to construct a bridge that allows people to cross over even during the rainy season. This
solution also helps to save many lives as the amount of people who drown in rivers will decrease.
LAME OGAUFI MORUPISI
18000508
GEME 521
ENGINEERING BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

References
Anon., 2011. Mext. [Online]
Available at:
https://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2011/03/03/1302821_001.pdf
[Accessed 30 April 2021].

Bugliarello, G., 2021. The national academies press. [Online]

Available at: https://www.nap.edu/read/1829/chapter/10
[Accessed 30 April 2021].

Winter, R., 2020. Soliant. [Online]

Available at: https://blog.soliant.com/healthcare-it/the-top-five-medical-breakthroughs-in-history/
[Accessed 30 April 2021].