Introduction

Okay, now that you have landed upon this blog, let me give a you a brief introduction to myself as well as the unusually titled blog and why I created it.

I have been in the electronics industry for well over a decade, and have spent the better part of it in Silicon Valley. Currently I am in Bangalore.

The reason for creating this blog is because, as a passionate technologist, I am disillusioned by the current state of affairs in the hi-tech industry. It seems that the industry as a whole is guilty of promoting technologies that are inefficient, defy common sense, take consumers for a ride, environmentally unfriendly, unethical, or several of the above.

The term "Junk Engineering" is borrowed from its relatively better known sibling "Junk Science", and is not my original creation anyway. As most of you might already be knowing, junk science refers to stuff that passes for science without really being scientific. The "scientists" who perpetrate pseudo-scientific nonsense are highly unethical and everyone would agree with that.

But in the case of junk engineering, it isn't so cut and dried. Perfectly respectable engineers and managers in highly respected organizations are a party to junk engineering, without them even realizing it. Most of the times, there is no active effort to curb inefficiencies, mediocrity, or even plain unethical behavior because of several factors, not the least of which are just complacence and general human reluctance to disrupt the status quo.

Also, since companies are, first and foremost, profit-motivated entities, many a time, these negative factors are actually encouraged in an insidious manner if there is more money to be made from adopting such a strategy. In such instances, one cannot blame specific individuals easily, which makes it all the more easier to get away with them.

It is not just the companies, but also the consumers who are to be blamed for this sorry state of affairs. For if consumers don't force a change which is in the best interests of them first, the companies never will.

I want to do my best to bring these issues to everyone's attention. With the current state of technology, companies can deliver a lot better than what they are currently doing. All it requires is a change in mindset (of management). This would never happen till it is forced upon them by consumers like you and me.

I am myself a futurist. I see that technology can do a lot to improve the quality of life of many people (both in the developing and developed worlds). But I see that mega corporations are stumbling blocks along the way. They either don't have their priorities straight or have vested interests.

Ok, I think you get the drift of what this blog is about. But this is not going to be another Ralph Nader "evil corporate" rant. Instead, being an engineer myself, I want to focus on very specific issues, one at a time. In many cases, I will show that there are simple solutions to common problems. But these are the issues that are commonly overlooked for the various reasons given above.

Also most of my posts will concern the hi-tech hardware/software/consumer electronics industry since these are what I'm most familiar with.

If the concerned companies listen and try to improve the state of affairs, I consider the purpose of this blog as being served.

I also encourage feedback from average consumers like you.

More to come..