It might be tempting to say that if something cannot be defined, then it does not exist. Better, perhaps, that the absence of this something from what people say or write means its non-existence, or its non-relevance to daily life.
Engineering is relevant to the daily life of everybody: everyday we use some Engineering product. The fact is so obvious that no examples are necessary here.
On the other hand, is Engineering something we are aware of, we discuss, we write of? Is it consciously present? Is it immanent between us?
“Engineering”: try and see if there is such headline in any news site. No, there is not. “World”, “Politics”, “Sport”, “Entertainment”, “Technology”, “Science” are the most common news sections. One would think that Technology, or Science, or both should encompass Engineering: well, one should think again. The News, the Web, nowadays, say that technology is personal computers, phones, tablets, telecoms, even search engines and algorithms. Science, on the other hand, implies and supposes “natural sciences”: astronomy, environment, biology, medicine. Where is Engineering? Engineering is absent from the web that normal people read.
The news world is not everything nor everybody. A substantial slice of the web is, democratically, filled by common people describing their interests: blog, photo-blogs, tweets, and so on. You will easily find your favourite blog written about (or by) your favourite graphic designer. The weirdest hobby will find its space between the most common, and uncommon, professions. You may choose to be up to date with any topic ranging from style to politics, from geography to food, from tourism to aviation. Do not dare, however, to go and look for Engineers. It seems that Engineers do not exist, or if they exist they do not write, or if they write, they write of something else. They hide, they fake, they are silent.
I am not an exception. I am an Engineer but I write not of it. I am a photographer too, and I write of it, of course. “Cogito ergo sum” or, rather, “Scribo ergo sum”. Engineers do not write, nor anybody write about them. Engineers do not exist.
Strange to think there isn’t any blog dedicated to Engineering – it’s too large a field not to have anything about…
But, as you said, Engineering is the backstage, and … we live hedonistic times – so it’s not “cool”, “fashionable” to speak/write about boring stuff . You are not digg-ed, facebook-ed, tweet-ed etc. unless you write something for the typical “net-bulimic” : o)
… anyway, that’s a cool article about Engineering you wrote :- D