My Pursuit of Truth in Building Materials Engineering

The paper presents pursuits of the truth in building materials engineering. Some definitions of “what truth is” were presented. Partial truths were specified: the truth of scientific reasoning, the truth of scientific assessment, the truth of development directions and the splendour of scientific truth. All categories are addressed to the building materials engineering. In the chapter “Load capacity and stability vs entropy” definitions of entropy and exergy were presented followed by their influence on building construction, illustrated by the “Seneca cliff” and “Energy pyramid”. Chapter 3 presents the truth of scientific reasoning was presented. Three partial truths were indicated: the truth of experimental fact, the truth of scientific reasoning and the truth of scientific presentation. In the chapter “Truth of scientific assessment” two main assessment methods were presented: peer review and a bibliometric parametric assessment as well as their impact on the results and authors. The risks associated with the sole parametric assessment were shown as the two basic factors of a parametric assessment – citation number and Hirsch index – need time to "mature". Additionally, the influence of digitalisation of the assessment of a scientist and a scientific unit on the commoditisation and dehumanisation of science was outlined. In the chapter “Truth of development directions: defined past – fuzzy future” the megatrends observed in technology in the last few decades years were indicated along with new possible trends. Milestones in the development of C-PCs (Concrete-Polymer Composites) were presented. The new paradigm for the new development cycle was proposed.