Laymen and politicians may create what fantasies they choose, but, for the engineers, ‘It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock.’ Essentially, these people’s stuff must work, and go on working, safely and economically. It may be the engineer’s job to point out that the emperor has no clothes on, but however embarrassing this may be, we clearly need more, not less, of this kind of realism.
