👉 The term "sad engineering" refers to the deceptive or misleading practices employed by engineers and companies to downplay the risks, consequences, or severity of projects or technologies, often for financial gain or to maintain public trust. This can involve underreporting safety hazards, exaggerating benefits, or concealing environmental impacts to secure permits, funding, or public approval. The result is a false sense of security that can lead to catastrophic failures, such as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster or the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, where hidden flaws and unaddressed risks ultimately caused immense loss of life, environmental damage, and economic ruin. This form of engineering not only endangers people and ecosystems but also erodes public trust in the integrity of the industry, leaving communities to bear the brunt of preventable tragedies.
