Conspiracy Theories in the Realm of Structural Engineering
As a structural engineer, I get a lot of questions regarding the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings. People want to know if there is any validity to the claims of demolition by explosives. As with anything in life, there are no certainties, but I find the claims of conspiracy to be very unlikely. Consult the NIST website on WTC collapse (and final report here) if you want to see the official accepted course of events based on thousands of hours of research and analysis by disinterested scientists and engineers. For other opinions, consult Structure Magazine's archives and search for WTC articles (like WTC 7 and WTC 5).
Just as with the moon landing conspiracy and the Obama is an alien conspiracy theory, providing evidence to debunk the myths does nothing to dispel the rumors. People believe what they want to believe, despite having the ability to reason for themselves. Thus, I don't think any logical argument or presentation of evidence will change anyone's minds, so I am not going to present one here. For a good, logical refute of the arguments, see Rolling Stone's "The Low Post."
However, I do want to discuss the ethical implications of these beliefs among the structural engineering and architectural community. If someone has not yet decided what happened on any of these occasions, just be aware that spreading conspiracy theories will have a negative impact on one's career. Basically people will think they are crazy or stupid, neither of which are positive characteristics for an engineer.
An important ethical implication that must also be considered is that the many engineers that have been closely involved with the original design and investigations are essentially being accused of mass murder. Or covering up for mass murderers. These engineers have absolutely nothing other than the highest respect for human life, throwing them into the same category as history's greatest villains will not win any points.
In fact, a recent debacle at the White House showed that indicating support for these ideas can create professional problems many years down the road. The Green Jobs adviser for the Obama Administration was forced out because of support for 9/11 conspiracy theory. This is a good lesson for all of us to learn. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Just as with the moon landing conspiracy and the Obama is an alien conspiracy theory, providing evidence to debunk the myths does nothing to dispel the rumors. People believe what they want to believe, despite having the ability to reason for themselves. Thus, I don't think any logical argument or presentation of evidence will change anyone's minds, so I am not going to present one here. For a good, logical refute of the arguments, see Rolling Stone's "The Low Post."
However, I do want to discuss the ethical implications of these beliefs among the structural engineering and architectural community. If someone has not yet decided what happened on any of these occasions, just be aware that spreading conspiracy theories will have a negative impact on one's career. Basically people will think they are crazy or stupid, neither of which are positive characteristics for an engineer.
An important ethical implication that must also be considered is that the many engineers that have been closely involved with the original design and investigations are essentially being accused of mass murder. Or covering up for mass murderers. These engineers have absolutely nothing other than the highest respect for human life, throwing them into the same category as history's greatest villains will not win any points.
In fact, a recent debacle at the White House showed that indicating support for these ideas can create professional problems many years down the road. The Green Jobs adviser for the Obama Administration was forced out because of support for 9/11 conspiracy theory. This is a good lesson for all of us to learn. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Labels: structural engineering, young engineers
posted by Graeme at
7:30 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home