<
https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5714/Rational-AccidentsReckoning-with-Catastrophic>
"Nuclear reactors, deep-sea drilling platforms, deterrence
infrastructures—these are all complex and formidable technologies with the
potential to fail catastrophically. In
Rational Accidents, John Downer
outlines a new perspective on technological failure, arguing that undetectable
errors can lurk in even the most rigorous and “rational” assessments of these
systems due to the inherent limits of engineering tests and models. Downer
finds that it should be impossible, from an epistemological viewpoint, to
achieve the near-perfect reliability that we require of our most
safety-critical technologies. There is, however, one such technology that
demonstrably appears to achieve these “impossible” reliabilities: jetliners.
Downer looks closely at civil aviation and how it has reckoned with the problem
of failure. He finds that the way we conceive of jetliner reliability hides the
real practices by which it is achieved. And he shows us why those practices are
much less transferrable across technological domains than we are led to
believe. Fully understanding why jetliners don't crash, he concludes, should
lead us to doubt the safety of other “ultra-reliable” technologies.
A unique and sobering exploration of technological reliability from an STS
perspective,
Rational Accidents is essential reading for understanding why
our most safety-critical technologies are even more dangerous than we believe."
Free download!
Via Violet Blue’s
Cybersecurity Roundup: November 26, 2024
https://www.patreon.com/posts/cybersecurity-26-116736321
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
