See you next
Thursday, December 6th for another
Science on Tap
Bring a friend or friends, make a night of
it!
Colossal Failures in High-Tech Projects, And What We Can (or Should) Learn From Them
John H. Stichman, PhD
For centuries, and especially today, we have relied on
complex systems designed by expert engineers.
With each passing year we come to rely more and more on such highly
complex systems, such that not a day goes by without our way of life depending
on them. Yet, sometimes these systems
fail in colossal, visible, and often tragic ways. Think of the Space Shuttle, innovative
bridges, the Chernobyl
The speaker has presented this material to many graduating
engineering students around the country, to practicing engineers, and to people
in varied occupations. The message to
them has been that they not only must think in terms of “best practices,” but
moreover should consider that they have an ethical imperative to take positive
steps to avoid failures of the systems they create.
“Experience is what allows one to recognize a mistake when
you make it again.”
