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A Short Story for Engineers

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Re: A Short Story for Engineers

#31

Post by Finnucane »

Nextgrid wrote: post #13
Finnucane wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s certainly hard to imagine any real system being designed to stop the production line instead of just diverting the empties into a bin.

I think stopping the line would be the correct thing to do as having an empty box is a thing that should never happen (of course, the upstream issue should be fixed first) and if it does happen chances are something is very wrong and it's better to be safe than sorry.

But there will always be some empty boxes no matter how tightly you calibrate the line. You're never going to have perfect tolerances in a mass production line like that. In fact, in this case, the scale is still a better solution than the blower, because not only do you need to not send out empties, but also incorrectly filled tubes.

Re: A Short Story for Engineers

#32

Post by raldi »

kllrnohj wrote: post #27
raldi wrote: post #11

Of course it’s a parable. That doesn’t make it any less pithy. See also: The Russians Used a Pencil

> See also: The Russians Used a Pencil Although that one is highly incorrect. Nasa did use pencils, Nasa didn't pay for the space pen's development, and the space pen is superior to the pencil (no flammable particles), and Russians also use the space pen and not pencils as a result. It trivializes actual improvements and glorifies dangerous shortcuts over actual engineering. It contributes to the "haha scientists are…

Good points all around.

Re: A Short Story for Engineers

#33

Post by dharmab »

newyankee wrote: post #14
raldi wrote: post #11

Of course it’s a parable. That doesn’t make it any less pithy. See also: The Russians Used a Pencil

They literally used it in a Blockbuster Hindi movie called '3 idiots' as if it was a real story. A huge section of the population takes these urban legends seriously. But i guess as long as the message is decent , no harm done ?

Did you miss the dramatic scene near the end where the dad tearfully clarifies to the protagonist why they couldn’t use a pencil?

(I swear it makes sense in context)

Re: A Short Story for Engineers

#35

Post by raldi »

solarkraft wrote: post #30
newyankee wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They literally used it in a Blockbuster Hindi movie called '3 idiots' as if it was a real story. A huge section of the population takes these urban legends seriously. But i guess as long as the message is decent , no harm done ?

> But i guess as long as the message is decent, no harm done? I'm not sure the message is decent and no harm is done, since it seems to be designed to weaken trust in complicated engineering processes with its underlying "look at these idiots".

To be fair, often that trust is misplaced.

To the extent that it’s also often not, there are also modern parables about the dangers of corner-cutting. (NASA has three rather famous true-story ones.)

As a result, good engineers have a mental framework to identify both situations.

Re: A Short Story for Engineers

#36

Post by edoceo »

abeppu wrote: post #15

Even as an apocryphal parable to illustrate something about the extravagance of the solutions found by extravagant processes, doesn't this kinda fall short? The $20 solution is only found as a response to the $8M solution, which introduced a measurement and an incentive. I read this as suggesting that (a) workers closest to the situation can offer solutions if (b) measurements are in place and incentives are aligned…

Your a,b,c stuff was outlined in Wealth of Nations about 200 years ago. Modern capitalist is designed to make HIPPOs feel good - empowered workers highlight that managers don't deserve their outsized pay.

Re: A Short Story for Engineers

#37

Post by crazygringo »

I always wonder... where does this faith in "blue collar thinking" over fancy-pants engineers come from?

Why do people think the engineer wouldn't suggest a fan?

Obviously it's an urban legend... but it just makes me wonder what makes it so repeatable, similar to how everyone's heard the similarly apocryphal story about how NASA invented a million-dollar pen while Russia got away with pencils just fine.

The reason I wonder, is because sometimes I worry that this supposed "faith in common sense" is really just an "anti-expert" bias that is precisely the kind of thing that leads to disbelieving climate change, antivaxxers, not wearing masks, and anti-intellectual populism generally.

Especially in 2020, I wonder if this is a kind of thinking that shouldn't be particularly encouraged... :S

Re: A Short Story for Engineers

#38

Post by NiceWayToDoIT »

I read comments and many are saying "is it urban legend" I do not think so, we underestimate people ability to complicate things and make mistakes. Does anyone remember story how NASA lost 125 million orbiter because measuring unit mistake> https://www.simscale.com/blog/2017/12/nasa-mars-climate-orbi...

Re: A Short Story for Engineers

#39

Post by js2 »

kllrnohj wrote: post #27
raldi wrote: post #11

Of course it’s a parable. That doesn’t make it any less pithy. See also: The Russians Used a Pencil

> See also: The Russians Used a Pencil Although that one is highly incorrect. Nasa did use pencils, Nasa didn't pay for the space pen's development, and the space pen is superior to the pencil (no flammable particles), and Russians also use the space pen and not pencils as a result. It trivializes actual improvements and glorifies dangerous shortcuts over actual engineering. It contributes to the "haha scientists are…

The $400 ashtray scene, from The West Wing.

https://youtu.be/7R9kH_HOUXM

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