Jammer Wrote:
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> <concurs with Warwick on that!>
>
> My field is mechanical & civil engineering.
> I feel it's a science, true scientists might argue
> it's a more closed-ended-mathematical-specialty.
> Engineering is rarely done for the pleasure of
> discovery, which many of the mainstream sciences
> are, so they may well be right.

Being a camp follower of engineering, IMHO engineering stands as the exact center of pure and applied science. If you want to build a state of the art bridge you have to use the latest insights in math, materials, statics, mechanics, etc. It can be dangerous after all look at all the buildings that have collapsed, the dams that have burst, cars that have crashed etc. The flip side is that we're still here and going strong.
>
> I have a very thorough background in my field, and
> am well enough known for certain types of
> projects, to get called in as a special expert for
> ranges up to 200 miles.
>
> I might have a flash of insight a 1/2" tungsten
> wrapped cable could support a weight under stress
> that previously took a 1.5" steel wrapped cable.
> In fact, I could probably do the math in my head
> to be somewhat certain the guess is accurate.
>
> BUT if I have a catwalk hung people actually use,
> based on that guess, and without doing a bunch of
> confirmation physical tests, I might be an
> "insightful engineer", but I'd also be an idiot.
>
>
> Would YOU want to walk on a catwalk my gut told me
> would hold up fine?

Again that depends on the cirucmstances, if I'm trapped in a burning building and the only way out is to follow your gut instinct that the tungsten wrapped cable will hold the elevator vs. my total ignorance of the tensile strength of tungsten wrapped cable I'll go with your gut feeling, though from experience I think I would prefer a titanium cable. If on the other hand the building was just fine and the elevator was out of order, and you were feeling under the weather and making your best guesstimate using Finagle's variable fudge fact and weren't sure whether to use tungsten or steel wrapped cable, I would probably just take the stairs until you ran the numbers and got the right answer.
>