• Question: Was the engine a good invention considering global warming but it helps people so much getting around?

    Asked by apjk03 to Andrew, Emma, Marianne on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Andrew Maynard

      Andrew Maynard answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Hi apjk03,

      Good question, but impossible to answer I suspect! How do you balance all the good and all the bad that has come out of the invention of the engine? I’m not sure you can!

      I actually think that the invention of the engine was probably inevitable given our inventiveness, and the problem was not so much with the invention, as with how we developed and used it. The big lesson here is that, if we are going to invent things, we need to find a way of doing it so that they don’t cause harm in the future.

      But what do you think?

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Hi apjk03 – good question! Yes, I suppose when the engine was invented we had no idea how it would develop to be such an accessible item to the masses, the benefits it would bring but the long term effects it would have on the planet and the people living on it!

      Nowadays, we tend to be analytical about the long term effects of inventions because we have legislation in Europe that says we have to. As with everything in life, we have to balance the positives agains the negatives and admit that everything we do will have an impact.

      Nowadays, developers are more aware of environmental impacts and car engines have changed greatly in their efficiency over the last 10 years and that was because European law stipulated that manufacturers had to do it. In the Ministry of Defence, the new Type 45 Destroyer engine is 3 times more fuel efficient than it’s predecessor (check out the Rolls Royce web-site as they make the engines).

      In summary, yes to society it was a good invention and has changed our lives dramatically but with it, it has brought impacts on people and the environment which we now have to manage.:)

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Good question apjk03. I think we have to accept that yes it was a good invention even though it has turned out to have its downsides. I suspect that without it the World would still be quite a disconnected sort of a place and we’d never have managed the many other innovations and advances we’ve achieved in society. Maybe you could argue that it has over-stayed its welcome and it is time for some new blood on the scene. Have you got any solutions?

    • Photo: Marianne Baker

      Marianne Baker answered on 20 Jun 2010:

      Hey apjk03,

      As a part of the industrial revolution, I think the engine was a very beneficial invention.
      It allowed technology to advance dramatically and social mobility to increase.

      I can’t imagine life without it – can you ?!

      It’s certainly a shame that our activities have done so much damage; unfortunately, we didn’t really understand what we were doing until it was nearly too late, and by then, most people had become so dependent, they would not want to change. Now we see global warming denial all over the place, which is sad and will only inhibit our efforts to reduce the damage.

      But overall, in terms of our progress – I’d have to say the engine is a ‘good’ invention.

    • Photo: Emma Pilgrim

      Emma Pilgrim answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Crikey that is an impossible question to answer in a short time! There are so many different types of engine that do all sorts of jobs, the only thing that they have in comon is that they can doa lot more work than a human and consequently can save us a lot of time and effort. Like most powerful inventions e.g. the car it is not the invention that is good or bad, it is how you use it. Hopefully modern technology will improve the efficiency of the engine but equally man must realise that more is not always better

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