Slashdot points to the National Science Foundation’s announcement of 14 engineering challenges to improve our life in this century. We know that technology has played an important role in the advancement of life in the past and it will continue to do that in the future.
The final choices fall into four themes that are essential for humanity to flourish, – sustainability, health, reducing vulnerability and joy of living, the group said. The committee did not attempt to include every important challenge, nor did it endorse particular approaches to meeting those selected. Rather than focusing on predictions or gee-whiz gadgets, the goal was to identify what needs to be done to help people and the planet thrive, the group said.
The final choices are the following.
* Make solar energy affordable
* Provide energy from fusion
* Develop carbon sequestration methods
* Manage the nitrogen cycle
* Provide access to clean water
* Restore and improve urban infrastructure
* Advance health informatics
* Engineer better medicines
* Reverse-engineer the brain
* Prevent nuclear terror
* Secure cyberspace
* Enhance virtual reality
* Advance personalized learning
* Engineer the tools for scientific discovery
I will ad first place, engineering to manage, to reuse, to rebuilt and to recycle the wastes that we generate and trough away to drainage, to garbage and gases to atmosphere.