From: jay.thal (jay.thal@TCS.WAP.ORG)
Date: Mon Jan 31 2000 - 15:37:25 CST
attached mail follows:
In Mark's note on a SM minute he points out the determination
(compulsivness) and resiliency that it takes to be a researcher or
scientist, etc. Learning from ones failures and not replicating them,
but going on. It is a valued trait.
But he also pushed one of my hot buttonswhen he wrote:
> When the Challenger exploded NASA didn't just close up shop--they
> investigated what went wrong and corrected it. There's been lots of
> successful Shuttle flights since then.
That unfortunate episode says more about the human condition and the
need for healthy levels of skepticism. Surely the consequences were
unintentional - which should have reduced the charges from first or
second degree murder to, at the very very least, reckless endangerment.
People made choices so that they could get "ataboys" at that evening's
State of the Union message (which was cancelled) that disregarded not
only safety principles but their own knowledge base. No one lost, save
for the astronauts and their families. No company suffered, no one was
truly penalized.
Yes, there was an investigation. But save for the persistence of
Richard Feynman and a few others the causation would have been totally
swept under the rug. Arrogance, smugness, and egos cause that disaster
as much as an "O" ring that lost its flexiblity at low temperatures.
They're still arrogant (and NASA stands only as an example, but not
alone), but they're also such a prestigious cash-cow that they (agencies
and industries) go on, and on, and on without much effective oversight
or accountability. Yes there have been successes (if you narrow your
focus) but there have also been Hubbell's myopia, and the lost Mars
missions, to name but a few.
I'm not anti-exploration or science, but too often these projects are
driven more by money and recognition than by improving the human
condition. Beaver Dam's Library surely has the writings of Feynman.
YiWWSWd,
Jay
