Seminar: Politics, Philosophy, and Prestige with Guru Madhavan

Using examples from the history of mission-critical engineering and the contemporary nature of large-scale programs, this talk will build on how we frequently recognize one act and aspect of engineering (innovation) over another (maintenance) across our careers, corporations, and culture. It will consider some evolutionary forces and economic incentives that shape the politics—and philosophy—of prestige associated with engineering priorities and projects. In a world pulled by and pushed toward the novel and the nifty, how can commercial innovations gain more grounded vision informed by a prosocial sensibility of care and conservation?