Engineering, ethics and our common future
The 2026 world cup ended with Spain taking la copa mundial. Kudos to everyone who participated. As I write, there has been a train collision between a high-speed train with a stationary train near Toledo in Spain. This is the third train crash this year in Spain.
All this without it being related made think about engineering, ethics and our common future. Everything is related.
What things we are called to deliver well as engineers! What more could lie in the immense panorama and rubble that we have around? We constantly need to look at details, understand load paths from roof to foundation. A while ago, I met a gentleman, who asked me what book it was I was holding. It was a book by Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics. Upon noticing it was on ethics, he asked what I do in life “structural engineering practice,” I retorted. He immediately argued “Engineers do not need ethics. Leave it for those in public life, politics, lawyers, and the humanities.” We parted with broad smiles. This got me thinking.
I have experienced odd moments, read stories near and far, on events in the construction industry. We are aware of the escapades that take place daily; from how business is secured through the tendering process, to how profits are made even at the cost of significant compromises on integrity of materials used, or some processes and procedures, or how clients take their sweet time paying for designs or works, if they pay. This is from multi-billion projects to easy backyard works. They tell the story of man – capable of the good, the bad and ugly all at the same time.
As is obvious, in all fields of human activity, whether economics, engineering, psychology, and sociology, and biology, ethics plays an inherent and indispensable role. That simple idea of “do the good, avoid the evil” is an impetus to all activity. Every human action has in the first consideration, an end. We always act to obtain something. And for us, the end does not justify the means. In fact, the end determines the means.
To divert briefly, as we well know, engineering comes from the Latin word, ingenium, which refers to our creative and designing faculty: the genius. Engineers develop a rigorous background of science and mathematics, which they use with other technical skills. Since an engineer’s work is human action, which he can neglect or fulfil, do well or do poorly, and benefit or hurt his family based on where his work priorities fall, ethics most certainly plays a role in that work; an engineer must take ethics into account.
Everything is related, nothing happens in isolation. For us to improve ethics in the construction industry, a series of items need to be put in proper order. Mostly, it is a question of each one’s contribution. If our leaders be corrupt, it is only a reflection of the society from which they hail. This simply means “I” am corrupt, period. And it is really up to me to propose a better narrative.
Our common future will be shaped by ideals that go beyond us. And like every revolution, it takes relentless stubbornness to do one’s best to sail against the tide. And yet, we recognise that this is worthwhile. We engineers, like everyone else, have a unique responsibility to the community, and in addition to the codes of ethics which help to define the space within which we play to secure the good of all, our better judgement, fostered by a sharpened capacity to see, will go a long way in securing a better world.
The whole is greater than sum of its parts
We always remember that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. The joints of a building are important, and need to be adequate for the forces that will be transferred through them. Nevertheless, the building’s function as a whole is even more important. We live in extraordinary times, times where we have technology to harness. And it is easy to bypass firewalls if we know how. We need a deeper ethical imperative, perhaps, we could re-write history with more stories of ethical leadership and business in the sector of infrastructure.
The action of structural engineers LeMessurier in the aftermath of the Citicorp Building in New York, is a bold testament of professional ethical conduct. If we do not yet know the story, an easy Google search will suffice. We need more actions like these. We need some more rigor and iterations in the designs we propose, sometimes, not being afraid to ask around for opinions, so that economy and good engineering sense thrive. Not that we should get stuck in the mud with a billion iterations. Rather, that we get prudent as we go along.
And forward, we look to equipping better skills, with lectures that are attended by both students and professors timely, with better laboratories, and a relentless effort to think global, so as to compete global. Oh, and that important gem – continuous professional development, not being afraid to learn, or better being courageous enough to learn. How many of us are still using the same ancient design software, and books that we had in our undergraduate studies, or some spreadsheets that obviously always work? BIM is around for example, a bit pricey, but worth investing in it, for doing some integrated designs simultaneously.
I used to get caught in traffic in Nairobi and Kampala, like everyone else, the world over. And one begins to wonder why we do not yet have a diverse transport system. Why not trams, trains, for example? Or something significantly. Travel to many countries, and you will notice the better planning. Why not in our pat of the world?
The task ahead, of cultivating a society that honours the common good, is necessary and urgent. We engineers and all players in the built environment, are invaluable along this adventure, We, all of us, should reach the point of saying, behind our religious convictions and the diversity of our cultural, and professional presuppositions, what are the fundamental values for our common humanity, in a manner to work together to promote comprehension, reciprocal recognition and peaceful cooperation between all the members of the human family.
Para pro futuro
Is it realistically possible to run an engineering/construction business bila magendo? Of course, it is. Though tough and tricky with the cartels, and sharks all over the place, and even more so in our multicultural world, it is possible. We recognise the importance of efforts to channel resources to the good of society, guided by a premise. And if we do, can we dare to do things differently? Whether things can change is fairly obvious, whether they will, is a more real question. Depends on you, depends on me. Albert Einstein suggested “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We need some significant insanity to set the ship to sail in the direction we know is better than what we have. The Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers has as its motto, Para pro futuro, Prepare for the future. And for the future we design and build, and we do so ethically, no? You are right, yeah, ethically! Suppose we decided to for gold in the arena of ethical engineering?