[extropy-chat] a Titanic blooper

[BillK]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:43:16 -0600, Damien Broderick wrote:
> http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050117/full/050117-12.html
> 
>  > The Channel A receiver was simply not turned on during the mission. "There's
>  > no mystery why it didn't turn on," says one scientist on the imaging
>  > team, who was upset by the loss. "The command was never sent to switch it on."
> 
> Whaaaa--?
> 

I think it's called human error, Damien. There's a lot of it about.

"Southwood says it isn't important who omitted the crucial
instruction, because the responsibility runs wider than that: the
error should have been picked up during checks. ESA is now mounting an
investigation into why the mistake was not spotted."

Anything that involves humans will have errors. That's why peer review
and backup checks are so important.  If you are an expert, that just
means you make a better class of mistake.
I find it pays to have someone around to tell me when I am being an idiot, 
in the nicest possible way, of course. :)


BillK