Damascus steel still has me baffled until today. I heard (..) one of the most accurate descriptions of what it was and how it was made is actually in a novel - The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson
Absolutely! I think that is also mentioned in the novel. There was also a Youtuber that went to great extends to recreate this. I wish someone made a definitive guide how to do it.
Brings to mind the lateral flex engineered into Moto GP bikes. When the bike is leaned hard into a turn, the suspension is now (nearly) parallel to the ground, thus the flex acts as vertical suspension while cornering.
The philosophical underpinning of this article is interesting to me - how does engineering affect culture and vice versa? Aspects of an engineered product like samurai armor will be partly due to tradition and the creative influences (i.e. artwork) on the designers. However, the design is also beholden to a slew of practical design constraints that will determine its form/fit/function. To continue with the example of samurai armor, I can think of several reasons why flexibility may have been useful:
- Warm & humid climate
- Lack of mineral resources and metals on Japan
- Varied use of weaponry, requiring flexibility (bows got more use than swords)
- Battlefield terrain (say, moving through hills or forests)
Practical choices based on those constraints forms an object that is useful and a cultural artifact. Samurai armor is uniquely an invention of the Japanese people. It is a representation of their traditions, influences, and environment.
Additionally, constraints the designers are facing will ultimately shape their mindset. Resource scarcity or ultra-harsh environments can cause very out-of-the-box thinking because the invention simply won't work without cleverness. If you haven't read Asimov's "Foundation", I'd recommend it. The premise is that a small colony of scientists is stranded on a barren planet with few resources. They have to be smart and scrappy to survive, which is reflected in every part of their planetary culture and the way they do diplomacy. I would say it's a very stark example of how culture and engineering are, in some ways, joined at the hip.
Great comment! Those are good insights into how different engineering cultures can come about. The material availability is probably a huge one. Zero doubt that practical constraints loom very large in engineering, but I do feel like we underplay the human aspect of it so much. There's always a million and one ways to solve a problem, particularly now, when constraints on materials are not as tight for the regular engineer. The interesting and difficult question is how are those decisions made? In my opinion, we've reduced engineering to something that's brutal logically where it really should be seen more as architecture is - a mix of art and science.
I'll have to add Foundation to my (already far too long) book list. Thanks for the rec!
What's funny to me is that some people (even engineers) think that engineering isn't "creative". What a load of crap. Mechanical engineering reminds me of sculpting with added difficulty (the thing actually has to work).
Though, there's a lot of copy-paste type behavior. An engineer sees the way somebody else solved the problem they're faced with, so they emulate that. Time is certainly a factor, which helps justify that approach, but it also leads to a lot of unoriginal designs. I like the "mix of art and science" mentality.
Happy to recommend books, but I can certainly commiserate about long reading lists. If you read anything worth sharing, please post about it!
Damascus steel still has me baffled until today. I heard (..) one of the most accurate descriptions of what it was and how it was made is actually in a novel - The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson
Yeah, it's so fascinating. I think I remember seeing a show where they tried to recreate it and found that adding green leaves was a key component.
Absolutely! I think that is also mentioned in the novel. There was also a Youtuber that went to great extends to recreate this. I wish someone made a definitive guide how to do it.
If a guide existed, I bet you wouldn't find it as exciting though haha. A real conundrum.
Brings to mind the lateral flex engineered into Moto GP bikes. When the bike is leaned hard into a turn, the suspension is now (nearly) parallel to the ground, thus the flex acts as vertical suspension while cornering.
The philosophical underpinning of this article is interesting to me - how does engineering affect culture and vice versa? Aspects of an engineered product like samurai armor will be partly due to tradition and the creative influences (i.e. artwork) on the designers. However, the design is also beholden to a slew of practical design constraints that will determine its form/fit/function. To continue with the example of samurai armor, I can think of several reasons why flexibility may have been useful:
- Warm & humid climate
- Lack of mineral resources and metals on Japan
- Varied use of weaponry, requiring flexibility (bows got more use than swords)
- Battlefield terrain (say, moving through hills or forests)
Practical choices based on those constraints forms an object that is useful and a cultural artifact. Samurai armor is uniquely an invention of the Japanese people. It is a representation of their traditions, influences, and environment.
Additionally, constraints the designers are facing will ultimately shape their mindset. Resource scarcity or ultra-harsh environments can cause very out-of-the-box thinking because the invention simply won't work without cleverness. If you haven't read Asimov's "Foundation", I'd recommend it. The premise is that a small colony of scientists is stranded on a barren planet with few resources. They have to be smart and scrappy to survive, which is reflected in every part of their planetary culture and the way they do diplomacy. I would say it's a very stark example of how culture and engineering are, in some ways, joined at the hip.
Great comment! Those are good insights into how different engineering cultures can come about. The material availability is probably a huge one. Zero doubt that practical constraints loom very large in engineering, but I do feel like we underplay the human aspect of it so much. There's always a million and one ways to solve a problem, particularly now, when constraints on materials are not as tight for the regular engineer. The interesting and difficult question is how are those decisions made? In my opinion, we've reduced engineering to something that's brutal logically where it really should be seen more as architecture is - a mix of art and science.
I'll have to add Foundation to my (already far too long) book list. Thanks for the rec!
What's funny to me is that some people (even engineers) think that engineering isn't "creative". What a load of crap. Mechanical engineering reminds me of sculpting with added difficulty (the thing actually has to work).
Though, there's a lot of copy-paste type behavior. An engineer sees the way somebody else solved the problem they're faced with, so they emulate that. Time is certainly a factor, which helps justify that approach, but it also leads to a lot of unoriginal designs. I like the "mix of art and science" mentality.
Happy to recommend books, but I can certainly commiserate about long reading lists. If you read anything worth sharing, please post about it!
Will do!