Someone suggested that
Dennis Quaid should be reminded of the Therac-25
"if he thinks computers will reduce risk without a huge investment in quality,
quality assurance and operational analysis."
For readers who may not be familiar with it,
the Therac-25 was a Canadian radiation-therapy
device of the 1980s that was intended to treat cancer.
It had at least six major accidents and caused three fatalities,
because of poor software design and development.
Why should anyone assume Dennis Quaid doesn't
know that quality assurance and operational analysis are needed
for anything designed or controled by software?
The man is a jet pilot, and thus must be aware of such
efforts by aircraft manufacturers, airlines, and the FAA.
As Quaid points out,
we don't have a major airline crash every day,
and we do have the equivalent in deaths from medical errors.
Many of which could be fixed by Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE).
Bruce Schneier says he's tired of headlines like one that says
a new autopilot will prevent any more 9/11s, and says:
Why are people so narrowly focused? The goal isn't to protect against
another 9/11. The goal is to protect against another horrific terrorist
incident.
I have to admit I didn't even know jetBlue had been having some problems
until I got an apology from them in my electronic mail.
I fly them from time to time, and apparently they sent the apology to every
customer.
How would you respond to a week-long fiasco of international media scrutiny and criticism following a highly publicized episode of your intolerable treatment of customers, especially if your company was founded on a pledge of superior customer service?
John Robb notes that contemporary airport security has produced
a market demand that has already been filled:
Fractional jet ownership programs have zoomed, since these programs
suffer none of the security delays and hassles mass transit endures. A
great example is Warren Buffet's NetJets,
which has a 50% market-share
in the fractional jet industry. It has already expanded to 600 aircraft
(equal in size to the world's second largest airline, albeit with much
smaller jets) and sports global coverage.
Jared Diamond: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed The author examines societies from the smallest (Tikopia) to the largest (China) and why they have succeeded or failed, where failure has included warfare, poverty, depopulation, and complete extinction. He thought he could do this purely through examining how societies damaged their environments, but discovered he also had to consider climate change, hostile neighbors, trading partners, and reactions of the society to all of those, including re-evaluating how the society's basic suppositions affect survival in changed conditions.
Someone suggested that
Dennis Quaid should be reminded of the Therac-25
"if he thinks computers will reduce risk without a huge investment in quality,
quality assurance and operational analysis."
For readers who may not be familiar with it,
the Therac-25 was a Canadian radiation-therapy
device of the 1980s that was intended to treat cancer.
It had at least six major accidents and caused three fatalities,
because of poor software design and development.
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