Thinking Mechanically About Organic Systems

Over the course of the past year or so, I've had discussions with several friends about thought processes and metaphors, specifically those relating to engineering.

A mechanical engineer, in many respects, is concerned with efficiency.  We want our cars to drive the most miles for the fewest gallons.  We want the aerodynamic drag coefficient to be as low as possible.  We want the maximum lift-to-drag ratio to be as high as possible at the highest mach number possible.  We want our HVAC system to move the most air at the lowest power requirement to reach the desired room temperature the most quickly.

Mechanical thinking: How do I make this system as efficient as possible?

And yet, I've noticed this assumption of efficiency as the most valuable factor invade other areas of life where I do not think it should be applied.  Public education, agriculture, and Christianity are organic systems (note that I balk at the idea of Christianity being reduced to a "system," as it really is much more of a complex idea) that have been tarnished, in my opinion, by an obsessive search for mechanical efficiency.

I've been meaning to write an essay on this.  I've culled quotes from thinkers such as Neil Postman and A.W. Tozer that suggest they see a similar issue.  I've got my main arguments and understandings.

Yet I've waited, mostly because I've been focusing on other work.

Last week, however, I read The Goal, a fascinating book about constraints on systems and bringing about improvements.  And I realize I've got more thinking to do before writing that essay.

Perhaps my frustration is not with thinking mechanically; that is, making efficiency a priority.  Perhaps my frustration is with applying that thinking myopically - making a subsystem more efficient when it has no (or even a detrimental) effect on the larger system as a whole.

Take public education: by some necessity, there needs to be standardization.  Yet, if our highest-priority efficiency is to churn out graduates with a certain set of skills and knowledge, tested in the same standard way and taught in the same standard way, I wager that the final "product" of our system will be vastly inferior to the potential "product:" Graduates with highly diverse skill sets, innovative problem-solving abilities, confidence in their perhaps unconventional abilities, etc.  Maximizing the efficiency of a school system will have negative effects down the line.  A localized efficiency can negatively affect the broader system.

More thought required!

What is your system?  What is its goal? 

What do you need to change?  What do you need to change to?  How do you effect that change?

Corcaigh

After visiting the OM Ireland office on Tuesday, I got a ride to Roscommon town, spent two hours wandering around, and then caught Bus Eireann for the 6+ hour journey to Cork.

I finally arrived around half-ten (10:30 for the Americans) and began walking from the bus station down the main thoroughfare to the house where I would be spending the next three nights.  Arriving at the downtown home after a 15-minute walk, I rang the doorbell and the door swung open to reveal dozens of students from the local college.

This night was the weekly gathering of the Christian Union, Ireland's equivalent to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  Students were talking, playing various games (Dutch Blitz!), and making music.  There was a fantastic energy to it; a great sense of welcome.

My host offered me some pizza and introduced me to several of the students.  I immediately hit it off with Abigail and Dominic, talking with them for quite sometime before heading upstairs to the piano room, where Joel was playing Like a Lion, a song that's been on the Christian radio station a whole lot for the past few months.

Somehow, we got on the topic of politics, and several of the Irish students were happy with my intention to vote for Romney.  "I mean, how can you vote for a guy who hasn't done anything the past four years?" I now recall this moment with a sense of irony.

Soon, the students went home, and I went to bed.

The next day,  I wandered the city, walking along the river out to University College Cork and back through the English Market, where I purchased a delicious sandwich and some strawberries as well.  Then, hiding from the rain, I found myself in a small cafe with Naomi, a girl from Singapore who recognized me from the previous night's gathering.  We talked about culture and faith a bit, and then traveled on.  I noticed then that the house in which I was staying was just across the street from where I had stayed 3 years earlier on a study abroad weekend at the Cork Jazz Festival.  Funny how these things work out.

Much of that afternoon was spent reading Tim Keller's Reason for God and N. T. Wright's Surprised by Hope - both very thought-provoking books.

Instead of going out for Halloween - whether the usual revelry or the alternative Christian Union party - I had the privilege of praying for the city of Cork with my host family.  We prayed for all those out on the streets, in the clubs and bars:  that fights would not break out, that no one would fall in the river (as has happened), that they might know God's love for them.  It was a joy to pray with them and witness their love for the city of Cork and its people.  They told me of the Street Pastor ministry, in which church members stay up until 4 AM on weekend nights, helping people make it home after a night in the club, giving flip-flops to girls who can't wear their 5-inch heels anymore, talking to whoever might be lonely or angry.  Christ's love, Christ's light still shines.

The next day, I was off to Cobh (pronounced Cove), a small town just a half-hour train ride away.  It was from this town that the Titanic set sail for its one and only voyage.  The pier at which it docked is still there, though in severe disrepair.

I wandered this little town for several hours, even venturing a few kilometers outside town to visit a nature reserve and have a good-natured conversation with several geese and muskrats.

Back to Cork I went for more time with my wonderful host family - dinner, conversation, and reading.  Another night of sleep, an early morning, and off on the bus again.

Off to Donegal, where my ancestral clan once lived.

Gaillimh

A rather painless first experience with Ireland's railway system brought me into Galway in the late morning.  I left the train station and headed straight to the farmer's market.  It has been nearly three years since I lived in Galway for a semester, yet my memory of the town was spot-on, right down to the location of the donut man, whose booth was still situated next to the painter's stall in the shadow of the church.

He and the girls in line behind me were amused that I had gone to him for my first stop.  "Three years?  Ah, my prices haven't changed either - that'll say something about the economy, to be sure!"

Next, a call to Nathan and a wander through Shop Street while he wove his way through traffic to come collect me.

I spent the next few days with Nathan and Jenna, recently-married friends who I'd met in the Christian Union while at the college here.  It was wonderful spending time with them:

Videos about bowl cuts featuring Chris Tomlin

Wandering through the nearby forests

Trad at the Crane

Driving the Clifden Sky Road

Meeting Paul and his parents and listening to their stories of faith

It was a true blessing to be the recipient of their hospitality and share many adventures with them.  Soon, however, it was time to head on.  They were back to work and I had more to see.  Tuesday began early, at 5:45 AM, as Nathan graciously drove me to the bus station so my next leg of the adventure could begin.  And so I was off to Lacken House, the headquarters of OM Ireland.

Sixmilebridge

I arrived at 6:30 AM after a longer-than expected flight (mention of headwinds spun my mind back to aircraft performance courses at VT), awake enough to ask the information desk for tickets, go to the Bus Eireann kiosk to purchase, and find the Adshel bus stop out on the curb.

Seven hours prior, stopover in Boston, I'd decided to spend the day in Sixmilebridge, so named for the bridge at the center of town, a near exact six miles from Limerick.  We drove in the darkness as the bus driver and other passenger talked about Halloween.  The other passenger was looking forward to giving out candy for about a half hour or so, then turning out the lights and closing the curtains - children clamoring for sweets were not going to separate her from her nightly soaps on the telly.

Others got on and off and then did I, round 8 AM while dawn still waited to get off at her stop.  She did, eventually, and the sky brightened.  I ate breakfast at the Centra and then wandered from the town center to the hostel, gave the door a ring, no answer, wandered miles outside of town until the path ended, turned back, gave the hostel a ring again, no answer, up the hill to the library for email, back to the hostel, ring, no, quitting, ringing the B&B this time, no, then coffee next door, inquiry, around back the B&B, found the caretaker, set my things down in Number 5.

Rest: a nap, some reading.

That night, off to one of the town pubs.  A 7up for the unsettled stomach and a grand conversation with a local couple.  Talk of Munster rugby and the American elections and Irish economy and what was I doing there? and music and more.  They were off then and so was I, to bed as the caretaker practiced her accordion downstairs.

In the morning, a full Irish breakfast - my first full meal in country.  Warm goodbyes to the kind, helpful caretaker of the B&B and off to the train station. Fan Taobh Thiar Den Line Seo.

Next, Galway.