Building a Better World

Transcription

1 Building a Better World Towards the Goal of Minimizing Mayhem on an Increasingly Belligerent Planet Kyran D. Mish Presidential Professor of Structural Engineering Director, Donald G. Fears Structural Engineering Laboratory School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science

2 Overview of Presentation A different way to look at the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami A confluence of three stocks of energy Nature meets humanity on the Richter Scale Some characteristics of the Civil Engineering profession CE history as a craft and as a formal engineering venue The weapons versus targets view of modern engineering The big question: can we afford human belligerence? What is the real cost of our military might? What is the commonwealth of the human nation? Subtext: toward a safer and better future The tsunami community is a natural role model for a better world What could this community accomplish with $1B/yr R&D funding?

3 Richter Scale as Mayhem Measure Richter Scale gives unifying principle for energy Natural hazards map well to Richter Scale Can also view man-made hazards as Richter magnitudes Richter Magnitude Recent quakes in Norman, OK Recent quake swarm on Hayward Fault Credible large quake on Hayward Fault Dec 2004 Indonesian quake

4 Three views of Richter 9.5 Quake Represents example of nature s largest earthbound calamity Practical upper bound on large earthquake event Asteroid collisions more damaging, but not earthbound Also, approximation to annual human energy production Reasonable estimate of constructive tendencies of human race Increasing slowly with time and with technological progress Also, represents the energy stocks of all world arsenals Sum of the yield of all the world s nuclear WMD Reasonable measure of destructive tendencies of humanity 2004 earthquake represents convergence of energy of nature with the constructive and destructive energies of mankind

5 So What Do Civil Engineers Do? Civil Engineers Serve Humanity CE is perhaps the only field of study that is explicitly dedicated to service of the human race via the design and deployment of our built environment Civil Engineers Save Lives Wholesale Medical profession generally acts on retail level Two recent earthquakes have killed ~1/2 million people Civil Engineers Build a Better World Old adage: CE s build targets, ME s build weapons Targets are supposed to be more expensive than weapons Highway overpass: $2M Large suspension bridge: $1B

6 The History of Our Profession Timeline of Engineering Practice Origin of Engineer is from Ingenuity Root arises from craft, e.g., teknos+ology Military Engineering (now, ME and EE) Palmyra, Syria Circa 1800 Continuing Contention for Funds Building Craft Trades Civil Engineering (CE, AE, OE)

7 Opportunity Costs of Belligerence Dollars spent on military technology are dollars not spent on civilian infrastructure Military technology of one nation is generally used to destroy the civilian (and military) infrastructure of another Eisenhower expressed this tradeoff best: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, from those who are cold and are not clothed.

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9 Military Expenditures By Nation Notes: The U.S. spends as much on military resources as the rest of the world combined -- is the world really this dangerous? Military expenditures in Russia and China are uncertain, and U.S. military expenditures are actually much larger than those shown here (since the costs of the Iraq war are not considered part of the federal budget)

10 A Thought from the Bible Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also Where is the treasure of the United States? Examine discretionary federal spending This is best measure of national priorities Will we find our nation s heart there? Are we committed to a safer and better world?

11 U.S. Discretionary Spending as Art

12 Local Opportunity Costs (OK Bridges)

13 Local Opportunity Costs (CA Levees)

14 And this is a problem world-wide

15 Let s Go Back to the Richter Scale Consider the Richter Magnitude 12 event Energy required to split the planet in half Viewed as concentration of destructive energy Energy gained by earth from sun each day Viewed as distribution of constructive energy This is what powers sustainable cycles on earth ES motto: the solution for pollution is dilution Is it a bad idea (for man or nature) to concentrate energy? Can we build a sustainable future based on international cooperation towards real safety for all of humanity? Isn t this what the tsunami community is already doing?

16 Towards the goal of full disclosure My own professional career has been at interface of weapons and targets industries Bridge engineering practice and CE academic duties Service at all three U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories Have worked for many years to connect academic researchers with national labs resources, including funding and computers Have been lucky enough to find plenty of strong students who are dedicated to building a better world Example: Lisa Holliday, Ph.D candidate, Fulbright& Boren Fellow Work with EWB and Partners chapters in Oklahoma I believe that we need to find ways to encourage such students to realize their dreams of a better world.

17 Questions and Answers