This weekend, I spent time at a virtual conference on engineering studies — a field that attempts to reflect on engineering and society. The conference started by hosting the movie “Black Panther.” For those who don’t know, the Black Panther is the leader of the fictional and technologically advanced, but hidden, African country of Wakanda. Wakanda stands in for Africa and its descendants but also potentially, any technologically advanced country like the United States and the conflicts that wealth of technology presents.

Hidden countries that have discovered the secrets to long life and peace have a long tradition in Western fiction and mythology: think Shangri-La or El Dorado. Wakanda is powered by vibranium, a metal from an ancient meteor that allows advanced technology, everything from lifesaving to destructive. While the metal has magic-like properties, it could also represent other rare-earth metals, such as cobalt, found principally on the African continent.

Wakandans have isolated themselves from the world for centuries. This sets up the main conflict in the film, with certain people insistent that the benefits are shared with the world: either by stealing vibranium for profit or using it to liberate the downtrodden.

Characters favoring isolation note that allowing immigration will make Wakanda like all the other problematic places in the world. This reflects the discussion within America today where those favoring more isolation are less eager for immigration and more concerned about border protection.

Interestingly, the question of race in the movie, as an element of being an immigrant, becomes complicated. One antagonist states they would rather die and be buried in the ocean, honoring the captured slaves of the past who jumped into the sea, rather than submit to captivity. Another argues, “Isn’t everyone originally from Africa?” as an argument for freeing the downtrodden, especially people of color, but that argument seems to apply to all of humanity.

Race and blood are also a critical part of the organization of this country as it is not a democracy but a kingdom led by bloodline. However, bloodline isn’t the only means of leading the country. A ritual mano-a-mano fight to the death that depends on strength and skill is another path to the throne.

The movie seems to suggest that no matter how technologically advanced a society is, there remains room for chaos and barbarism. Indeed, one comment by a pretender to the throne makes clear he believes the most sophisticated scientist/engineer (Black Panther’s sister Shuri, who runs the country’s most advanced lab and acts like Q from a 007 movie) is the most dismissive of tradition but never hinting that technological advancement itself is a threat to tradition.

Additionally, other than the tradition of isolation, characters don’t seem to question any other traditions such as the ritual combat or the subsequently required drug-induced dream. Nor do they question the advance of science.

The country has an odd mix of archaic, even primitive, and advanced technology. Many people apparently live happily in caves, straw huts and high-rises, ride both maglev trains and horses, do many things by hand as well as through computer control and, while dismissing guns and bullets as primitive, use vibranium-augmented knives and spears. At one point, a character needs to mix an advanced drug using a wooden mortar and pestle.

In Wakanda, technology isn’t replacing jobs. People do things by hand they could easily do through technology. In a way that traditionalists anywhere might appreciate, the country has seemingly found a way for its population to champion and practice those traditions while still advancing technologically — something that exists at some level in America but definitely a difficult balancing act in a capitalist economy.

By the end of the film, the Black Panther has decided on a peaceful path to opening the country by exporting the knowledge of Wakanda in a controlled way through education. One critic argued that it mirrored the approaches of Martin Luther King Jr. vs. Malcolm X, favoring, ultimately, the peaceful approach of King.

The importance of technical and scientific knowledge in the film reflects the need that leaders in engineering education in the real world see for attracting more people into the field for their own advancement and for the good of their homeland: America. Weber State hopes young people choose engineering also.

America currently is holding an ongoing vigorous conversation about what traditions to retain. Many deserve retaining. Yet, the need for science and engineering for the betterment of its people, and possibly the world, as for Black Panther, remains unquestioned.