The subject of this textbook is a methodical approach on the complex problem-solving process of conceptual structural design, leading to a controlled build-up of insight into the behaviour of the structure and supporting the actual successive design decisions during the conceptual design phase on the basis of a coherent set of solution components.
Technology has always been a very distinctive feature of human existence. Technology is to humans what nature is to other organisms: our host. Man is nature, but through technology – humans came to stand against nature and its biodiversity; technology is now a global enterprise, advancing on a scale and pace that has never been seen before. The paper argues that this poses a threat not only to the planet and biodiversity but above all to humans themselves. A psychological perspective is chosen, that of the thinking and feeling person, which is contrasted with emerging (smart) technologies. It is concluded that man is not a rational “machine”, but a small-scale storyteller, a provider of meaning, especially emotionally involved with each other. Systems and standardization stand in the way. But as globalized humanity faces the dangers of diminishing (bio- and cultural) diversity, we need the unifying power of technology to restore balance.
MULTIFILE
We applaud many of the sentiments put forward by Cohen et al in their critique of language and logic in pain medicine. 8 Pleas to avoid conflation between nociception and pain are not new - “The mislabelling of nociceptors as pain fibres was not an elegant simplification but a most unfortunate trivialisation of pain”29 ; “.. we don't actually have ‘pain receptors’, or ‘pain nerves’ or ‘pain pathways’ or ‘pain centres.’”4 We are among those who see such conflation as contrasting with contemporary understandings of ‘how pain works’ and undermining evidence-based treatment approaches.
