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And it was a poor job - there is no way this thing is getting the performance it was rated for.</p>
<p>They could just use rocks and bones but would still have to eat before would have the energy to do anything. That would entail that the first profession of engineering was actually Food Engineering. All you other engineers are just late comers and need to brush up on your Food Science.</p>
<p>“You have to remember that civil engineers didn’t want to consider other engineering disciplines at one time”</p>
<p>True. I guess that’s why they are still called civil engineers as opposed to something more specific.</p>
<p>Hey Phil. My thoughts are that I am unsure if a civil engineering degree with be as worth it as it use to be. It opens up a lot of questions since my education direction gravitates towards the civ engineering direction. I must say for all the undergrad public university civ programs Ive looked at I was the most impressed by the one at Berkeley and not because I live in California. Cal’s civ department is Civil and Environmental Engineering and all 6 degrees kick ass but their Environmental Engineering degree won #1 spot this year. That and Environmental Design most appeals to me but all their structural, mechanical, planning, management whatever are all top notch. For my interests I’d just pound that out in 2 years then just delve into their grad Urban Studies masters degree which I think is one of the best.</p>
<p>Back then (waaaaaay back), there was military engineering and then there was everything else, which they called civil engineering (as in civilians). It wasn’t until later that the other engineering disciplines branched away from the civil engineering categorization.</p>
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<p>Clearly you don’t understand the concept of shelter. You can certainly build a lean-to or some other rudimentary form of shelter without tools. Sure, they may have used some tools, but early tools were not engineered, they were picked up off the ground. A flat rock, a sharp bone or something like that would have been found. Humans didn’t invent the radial arm saw right off the bat. That took time and inspiration. That inspiration had to come from a need, and that need came from building things or killing things.</p>
<p>In other words, ME evolved from needs generated by what I suppose could pass for the civil engineers of their day. Shelter was a requirement long before tools were.</p>
<p>One professor said, quant as a job will be diminished after 10 years from now on.</p>
<p>I would say FE is much like a business major. For students who want to learn business as an undergraduate while their schools dont offer majors in business, FE can be a good choice, even though it envolves a lot of math and computer sci.</p>
<p>The first engineering project may have been the universe, but first came the planning–what would be done in what order, which day to rest, etc. That was part industrial engineering, part operations research (a cousin of financial engineering). Maybe that engineer went to Princeton?</p>
<p>" Shelter was a requirement long before tools were."</p>
<p>Cavemen threw rocks and pointy sticks at things.</p>
<p>They didn’t endured their rocks or sticks. You really couldn’t say that until they added fins.</p>
<p>What about “Ethnic science”, “Arts’ technology” and “Underwater basket engineering”?</p>
<p>They are booming fields described by the Secretary of Labor as “disciplines the US will not able to outsource --EVER”.</p>
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My fumbling giant fingers and my iPhone keyboard do not get along. I really meant “engineered” instead of “endured.”</p>
<p>Designing the universe isn’t engineering. Engineering is applying physical science for practical use, but designing the universe entails designing all of the laws of physics that go with it, so you can’t build something by applying the thing you haven’t invented yet, can you?</p>
<p>The first engineering discipline was textiles (Genesis 3:7).</p>
<p>@CalcPolyEngineer
Serious?
Link please. It’s hilarious .</p>
<p>“They didn’t engineer their rocks or sticks. You really couldn’t say that until they added fins.”</p>
<p>When throwing they leveraged gravity to make a simple tool operate. They didn’t just store them somewhere, they used them.</p>
<p>Engineering.</p>
<p>So can we say that somebody who uses a hammer is an engineer?</p>
<p>^If they created the hammer… but then it’s an obvious answer.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how you’re trying to compare the two. Sticks must be taken off a tree and sharpened. Rocks must be broken into smaller pieces.</p>
<p>@jwxie I’m just kidding.</p>
<p>All seriousness aside, beavers are the first true engineers, but they were smart enough to stay away from “Financial engineering”. Animals are smart. You will never hear of a “bird nest construction bubble” or “burrow equity loan”. Also, beaver dams DO control floods --unlike ours.</p>
<p>Stupid humans.</p>
<p>I’m a Financial Idiot but from my econ/urban studies/planning classes I was always chewing out my teachers pushing the skeptical argument between 04-06 that there was going to be a housing bubble/bust from all the nonsense going on during that period.
My Berkeley Econ/Urban Studies professor agreed with me and looked frustrated from how ignorant and susceptible people can be to marketing ploys. Not only is one of the WORST ways to drive an economy the effects peoples psychology. Besides Hubris, humans are still too vain a creature compared to animals and like to think highly of themselves. Statistically speaking there will always be winners and losers in playing the housing/building market yet the majority will always think they will be one of the winners. I couldn’t believe the year and half long denial stage when prices normalized.</p>
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<p>So you are saying that me throwing a rock or a stick at somebody is engineering? I guess every human being alive is an engineer. If I jump over a creek, I am engineering because I am “leveraging gravity to accomplish a task.” When the QB of your favorite football team throws a pass to his star WR, he must also be doing engineering on the spot.</p>
<p>Give me a break. Engineering implies that you are are using science and mathematics to make natural laws and phenomena useful to people. You don’t have to understand science or math to throw a rock or sharpen a stick. If you did, chimpanzee’s wouldn’t be doing it.</p>