Writting Assignment 1

One of the sub-challenges listed in [1] was overcoming people’s “resistance to new ways of doing things.” Understanding the reasons for resistance will very likely help engineers overcome it. Briefly explain why you think people resist new technology.


According to the article by the National Academy of Engineering (2008), engineering has been a great propelling force of civilization. As the world’s human population grows and the standard of living improves exponentially, technology is progressing towards a more advanced state in order to cater to the ever increasing human needs. Therefore, the human race has been in tandem with learning and upgrading of skills to match the rapid technological advancements. However, most people are not motivated to learn new things or skills. The first reason is their sluggishness. They seem to have this mentality that the technology that they are familiar with will satisfy their current state of work, thus finding it unnecessary to upgrade themselves. Others would feel that learning new technology is a waste of time as they believe that it might not perform better as compared to the old technology that they are currently using. Others would find it embarrassing, being asked to start over again and learn new things at such an old age as compared to young teenagers who are technologically savvy. Peer pressure from bad company would also influence their mindset which leads them to give up on their opportunity to learn and upgrade themselves. Other than anthropogenic factors, environmental and political factors also play a part in discouraging people from upgrading themselves to better meet the demands in their working counter. Certain countries do not have the luxury of having a high standard of living and thus it restricts them from implementing new technology. Even if they choose to invest in better technologies, the cost of sustaining such investments could pose another problem. In addition, these countries might not have the funds to hire skilled technicians to train and educated their citizens. In conclusion, these factors mentioned above contribute largely to the reason why people and countries remain adamant against new technologies. Therefore, engineers should get to the root of the problems mentioned above before attempting to implement new technology for the world.

References
[Online document] Feb 2008. Introduction to the grand challenges of engineering. National Academy of Engineering Retrieved June 3, 2008, from http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9221.aspx