The Rise and Fall of Mechanical Engineering

Let's face it, they (I'm an Electronic Engineer) have reason to be worried. Mechanical engineering has always been about the application and interaction of force to an object. The problem is the mechanisms for this, while in ingenious, are inefficient. As any engineer will tell you, the more moving parts in a system the more prone to breakdown it is and the more maintenance is needed.
The big downside is the electronic systems are less transparent; there is no clanking noise or subtle clues. Also the more the car adopts the Command and Conquer style management; the more likely that if one minor system goes down the entire car will cease to work.

It's funny - I always loved ME because it was/is an amalgam of so many other disciplines. It is about forces and reaction, yes, but it's also about heat and mass transfer, and materials, and mechanics, and dynamics, and acoustics, and in any practical situation touches math & physics & chemistry & electronics & ... It may be that the mech E's will bow out of prime mover systems to some extent as the article suggests, but don't count on it. The heat transfer guys are doing some pretty amazing things to get heat out of higher power chips and electric power systems. The structures guys are faced with ever more challenging designs as we go to higher power densities, lighter materials, and push factors of safety to the limits.

There is (and will continue to be) genius in the mechanical aspects of space systems and dimensional measurements to multi-micron levels and automobiles that can run for hundreds of thousands of miles. None of this is done casually, rather it is the result of concerted effort of thousands of ME's cranking away at new problems every year. At the end of the day, systems that move people, things, and 'stuff' are mechanical - at least in part - and subject to the laws of physics. It is the application or recognition of those laws, in the context of getting something mechanical done, while living with and trading off form/fit/function constraints, that is the essence of mechanical engineering. The discipline is as vital and interesting today as it was during the rise of the steam engine and all our different power systems. The specific activites may change over time as technology changes but that's a good thing - it won't be boring! The harnessing of fundamental facts and laws to perform useful functions is what engineering is all about, no matter what the discipline. It's all cool.

ME's are just cooler.

;-)

I agree that there will always be a need for mechanical engineers. They live in the physical world rather than the digital world. (I have been laughed at by some ME's for calling huge sections of technologies "Analog stuff").
I think that keeping up to date on skills and technologies is the hardest, but most interesting, part of being an engineer. We are so busy creating things that we need to keep abreast of all the new stuff that our peers have designed. It's like a giant rugby game where someone carries the ball so far and then someone else picks it up and keeps running with it.

Preface: I'm an electrical engineer

Here's something to consider as more mechanical systems get replaced by electronic systems: Electronics tend to be less reliable in general, and they also have the nasty characteristic that they tend to fail "hard." That is, they go from working to non-working in a very short time with very little outside indication that something is wrong.

Mechanical systems on the other hand, tend to fail "softly." That is, their performance tends to degrade over time as a part weakens or breaks or as lubrication fails etc..

The brakes on your car squeal when they start having problems, or they feel "mushy." In contrast, the left channel on your car stereo just disappears one day, with no prior warning.

Which would you prefer in a life-critical application?