As individuals, the measure of control we exercise over the objective and subjective components of structural engineering changes and develops over time according to the growth of our mastery of the subject.
My old boss used to say that the original concrete code from back in the 1950s (I think) was potentially the best code to use for concrete design. "It is rational," he proclaimed from the rooftop. "The more we learn and embed in the codes, the more irrational and obscure it has become." (not verbatim)
I wasn't clever enough at the time to read any underlying message into his proclamation, but now I contemplate whether he was upset about his freedom being compromised.
As engineers we are, to a certain extend, allowed to control the balance between the extrinsic determination (controlled by codes and regulations) and our self-determination (our freedom to play) when we produce a design.
There is a good argument, and one that I support, to suggests that our codes should become less 'cookbooky.' The focus of codes should be more on conceptual ideas, or what I like to call turn-your-mind-to high level principles. The more like a cookbook it becomes, the less ability we have to decide what this balance should be.
So I am shouting from my own rooftop now. "Let me decide!"
