After ‘everyone’ was hunkered down (introspectively) the previous year, 2022 kept ramping upward and onward. People came out of their homes and began looking again at the world around them. This list of major 2022 Engineering impacts shows directed efforts on worries old and new, with hope vs fear competing as driving catalysts.
- EQUIPMENT: DRONES OF WAR The war in Ukraine showcased new levels of drone use in warfare, including the precise guiding of destruction as well as enhanced communication of outcomes. Through this, drone/arms suppliers in other countries advanced their product-testing capabilities and their supply-chain agility. This disturbing demonstration reminds us of the importance of channeling Engineering constructively for positive impact.
- ENERGY: FUSION IGNITION! After careful analysis, the US National Ignition Facility announced observation of ‘ignition’ in their nuclear fusion development program. This milestone of positive productivity in the pellet test is an important watershed in the hopeful path toward cleaner energy.
- HEALTH: VACCINE TAILORING The rapid development and mass production of 2nd-generation mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 were timely accomplishments. The approach was a ‘bi-valent’ tailoring to better optimize efficacy for both the original Covid-19 form and the more newly dominant omicron mutation. With efficacy of the bi-valent vaccine established (although the full extent somewhat debated), the demonstration of the ability to tailor and ‘blend’ future new vaccine constructs was very important. These vaccine boosters have established a bridge to the “annual flu-vaccine-like” regimen anticipated by health experts to anchor the years ahead. (Recall that the flu vaccine is based on an annually ‘blended’ approach.)
- INFRASTRUCTURE: WORLD CUP STADIUMS Extensive scale and artistic vision combined to produce the showcase of unique stadiums providing turf for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. While the backstory of awful conditions for the builders opened many eyes, the resulting structures filled many vistas.
- CLIMATE: TAKING ACTION Climeworks progress on a carbon-capture plant plus the UN agreement on financial ‘leveling’ of climate costs showed that “micro” and “macro” levers of action on global climate warming are progressing. While the suitability of the pace of that progress is hotly debated, these separate demonstrations of industrial attention and global-political intent are important contributions to the path our species is trying to forge.
- AUTOMATION: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE The emergent attention on ChatGPT coming shortly after news of the Google researcher let go over disturbing assessments of potential AI consciousness represent current bookends of the spectrum of hopes/fears about the rapid evolution of AI.
- TRANSPORTATION: UPWARD AND OUTWARD In the US, NASA and SpaceX activity progresses … while China, Japan, and India all advanced their country-specific efforts toward conveyance from ‘this mortal coil’.
Now that we are into 2023, let’s continue to strive for a positive Engineering impact, to counter the countervailing forces of entropy, self-interest, and close-mindedness. And we’ll continue to cheer on our global colleagues in that positive direction.
