Appreciating Charles

Watch Charlie Rose. For 18 years and with roughly 6,500 guests, PBS's hour long Charlie Rose has been a salon for extended, thoughtful, and civil conversation about politics, culture, business, science, medicine, technology, literature, media, law, education and any other that the host chooses to explore. This fall, Bloomberg Television is rebroadcasting it in prime time around the world.

The format is typically Rose and a guest at a conference table for discussions lasting between 30 and 60 minutes. The guests range from Bill Gates to Tim Geithner to Charles Manson. The interview process is civilized, important, thoughtful and in the age of the Becks, O'Reillys, Limbaughs, and Olbermanns - absolutely unique. Part Socratic method, part national therapy session, and part Firing Line from-the-go0d-old-days. Rose is the master of asking questions that allow guests the opportunity to explore issues and ideas in detail (30 minutes is better than 30 seconds!!). The back and forth of constructive dialogue - no yelling and no ideology - just the exploration of ideas in a historic manner dating to Murrow, Collingwood, Cronkite, and Sevareid. One hour with Rose on any particular subject or issue allows individuals the chance to begin the process of fully understanding the issues - and this may be the most important element and function of a democratic society. The process of thoughtful, open, and informed discussion and debate on our collective future.

To be effective, engineers need to be able to draw upon their broad education to analyze the impacts of historical and contemporary issues on engineering and analyze the impact of engineering on the world. Examples of contemporary issues that will impact engineering include the current economic crisis; climate change; globalization; raising the quality of life around the world and the technical, environmental, societal, political, legal, aesthetic, economic, and financial implications of engineering projects. When generating and comparing alternatives and assessing performance, engineers must also consider the impact that engineering solutions have on the economy, environment, political landscape, and society. Charlie Rose provides the engineering community with an excellent alternative for understanding and exploring our national and international contemporary issues in a constructive and thoughtful manner.