February 2, 2026
this post was written as a love letter to billy vaughn koen (1938-2025). may his memory be a blessing.
suggested reading:
the discussion of the method approaches engineering from the lens of one who has successfully dissolved the concept; rather, there is no one engineering to refer to but rather a larger sphere of related concepts which a sufficiently empowered engineer may flit through. the applicability of each individual concept within the larger space is a function of where and when the engineer is operating. archimedes’ screw works best in the BCEs; a pump in the current year. a natural conclusion of this bent is the ability to pick and choose frameworks for thinking such that one may best solve the problem which they are attempting to engineer away. this applies to equally the traditional engineering cycles such as kaizen and rca but also abstracted forms: building a social space, running an organization, etc. despite the dissolution of the question, most will likely take the conclusions of the book in a direction fit for traditional engineering; this essay is much more concerned with day to day applications and the use of the ability to change frameworks.
example 1: iterations on community building
most connection is a function of physical proximity. we are necessarily social animals and there is an aspect to in-person body language difficult to discard. with this heuristic in mind and the goal of building emotional closeness, how can this be done?
framework 1: tradition
historically people have organized over a shared space and culture. naturally one would then point to college campuses and religious organizations as modern iterations of this framework. however these are incredibly costly in terms of time commitment or excessive rules which makes these untenable for adults subjects to modern day demands. a goal oriented or labor oriented living community could solve this gap – commitments to communal labor and upkeep reduce the costliness of these communities while still benefiting from the social aspects of group living.
framework 2: labor
a living situation centered around upkeep of a space in itself to increase the standard of living of its inhabitants could work; this also has the byproduct of increasing the relative cost of leaving said community (i.e., when considering whether to leave said situation, one must also consider the time they will lose which was given back by group labor). these arrangements work in housing co-ops and the like but depend on other factors; everyone living in such a situation must be competent enough to provide their share of labor. an enforcement mechanism of some kind may be necessary?
example 2: iterations of governance
when entering the modern age, economies tend to pass through the stages of engineering -> lawyerly -> service1.
iteration 1: the engineering state
when given the ability to build works to benefit the people, most governments attempt to do so to build legitimacy; in early times this method is mainly dictated by engineers in goal-oriented development whether that be a transcontinental railroad, interstate highway system, or electrification. such large scale projects require the use of engineers. however, building toward a goal alone ignores externalities (pollution and the like)2. citizens of the state ride the hedonic treadmill as they adjust to the benefits of modernity. their toleration of these externalities decreases, moving to the lawyer state.
the lawyer state seeks to protect its citizens from the externalities of engineering through the legal system. while this seems to be easiest under english common law, any government with a sufficiently independent judicial system may experience this change. to some extent this is necessary. goal oriented development cares more for its ends and the gung-ho attitude of many engineers needs to be reigned in. the lawyerly state fails as it becomes a roadblock to progress; change may not be tolerated if it causes a temporary reduction in living standards for some. after all, not many are true utilitarians.
thus, the realm remaining to be innovated with in is that primarily dealing with services and entertainment. as it stands we seem to have an infinity capacity for novel experience and much of our current progress is to deliver this at faster rates. i’d hazard that this is sustainable in terms of our collective appetites but allows us to ignore the crumbling physical world.
a fourth state may be a synthesis of the engineering state; much of the appetite for it early one was driven by the possibility for new material experience. the best way to drive growth now is to tie the boring stuff (increased energy availability, etc.) and its material and entertainment outcomes.
these are general examples of iteration under various frameworks. for larger discussion, see any works by billy vaughn koen. as well, my solutions are not incredibly imaginative and should serve as examples of the process rather than outcome.