Rational Accidents
An unflinching look at the unique challenges posed by complex technologies we cannot afford to let fail—and why the remarkable achievements of civil aviation can help us understand those challenges.Nuclear reactors, deep-sea drilling platforms, deterrence infrastructures—these are all complex and fo...
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| Formatua: | Online |
| Hizkuntza: | ingelesa |
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The MIT Press
2024
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| Gaiak: | |
| Sarrera elektronikoa: | ONIX_20241025_9780262377010_99 |
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Etiketarik gabe, Izan zaitez lehena erregistro honi etiketa jartzen!
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| _version_ | 1869517501399826432 |
|---|---|
| author | Downer, John |
| author_browse | Downer, John |
| author_facet | Downer, John |
| author_sort | Downer, John |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | An unflinching look at the unique challenges posed by complex technologies we cannot afford to let fail—and why the remarkable achievements of civil aviation can help us understand those challenges.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. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-146721 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | The MIT Press |
| publisherStr | The MIT Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1467212024-10-25T13:18:23Z Rational Accidents Downer, John Science, Technology & Society/General Engineering/Aerospace Engineering thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDR Impact of science and technology on society thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TT Other technologies and applied sciences::TTD Space science::TTDS Astronautics thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TB Technology: general issues::TBX History of engineering and technology An unflinching look at the unique challenges posed by complex technologies we cannot afford to let fail—and why the remarkable achievements of civil aviation can help us understand those challenges.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. 2024-10-25T13:18:21Z 2024-10-25T13:18:21Z 2023 book ONIX_20241025_9780262377010_99 9780262377010 9780262546997 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/146721 eng Inside Technology image/jpeg n/a https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8844.001.0001 The MIT Press The MIT Press 10.7551/mitpress/8844.001.0001 10.7551/mitpress/8844.001.0001 ae0cf962-f685-4933-93d1-916defa5123d 9780262377010 9780262546997 The MIT Press 344 Cambridge open access |
| spellingShingle | Science, Technology & Society/General Engineering/Aerospace Engineering thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDR Impact of science and technology on society thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TT Other technologies and applied sciences::TTD Space science::TTDS Astronautics thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TB Technology: general issues::TBX History of engineering and technology Downer, John Rational Accidents |
| title | Rational Accidents |
| title_full | Rational Accidents |
| title_fullStr | Rational Accidents |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rational Accidents |
| title_short | Rational Accidents |
| title_sort | rational accidents |
| topic | Science, Technology & Society/General Engineering/Aerospace Engineering thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDR Impact of science and technology on society thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TT Other technologies and applied sciences::TTD Space science::TTDS Astronautics thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TB Technology: general issues::TBX History of engineering and technology |
| topic_facet | Science, Technology & Society/General Engineering/Aerospace Engineering thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDR Impact of science and technology on society thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TT Other technologies and applied sciences::TTD Space science::TTDS Astronautics thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TB Technology: general issues::TBX History of engineering and technology |
| url | ONIX_20241025_9780262377010_99 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT downerjohn rationalaccidents |