Test by tragedy

Have we come to that? Testing with people at risk. I am not kidding. I have been noticing declining quality for the past decade and one half. Some of this is due to computing. A lot of it is greed. Some of it is just immaturity augmented by SciFi's hold on the imagination. Lots to discuss.

The other day, I saw, in the biological context, some argument that sensor and simulation were equivalent. So, why spend the money for the former? Got that? No, just play the thing on a computer and use it as truth. That, people, is not a good sign. But, biology is loose. Don't believe me? Consider the strictness of trying to meet nature's hold on its material that is not from a life form.

Well, there are several reasons that people have let their love of abstraction go awry, one of which deals with metrics and what is measured. But, no abstraction, however much it might be enhanced by computing, approaches the 'beingness' of whatever that model might be trying to represent. SciFi has really warped things, too much. And, AI to the rescue? Not in the senses that I perceive to be thought of as a promise by some worldviews.

I know glossing over a whole lot of issues; however, we have gone too far in several directions leaving the natural result of befuddlement which comes from confounding without limit.

So, we'll just list a few particulars.

• Recently, read where Boeing had not left the test pilots in the loop. Ah, human in the loop is a key issue (see discussions on truth engineering). 
• We started by looking at engineering and the complexity brought by computing. There was sufficient reason for this due to the marketing thrust that was driving things. At some point, an engineer was put in charge; things quieted since laconic is not a bad trait for an engineer; and the thing flew (what? yes, the 787). 
• Since the 777 started this trend and was quite good at it, there have been choices made that have not had a good effect. Some of those were reversed. Many were not. Again, just recently, I was noting that suppliers were complaining that they could not keep up the pace being set by the Company and its computers (run by people without proper acumen, it seems). Ah so, I thought. Then, the first of the tragedies. 
• After that, there was a focus on software correcting what might be a design issue. What? But, then, given the complexity of the approach, who is to know? Well, that was the role, formerly, of experts who spent years honing their decision making talents. People in the loop is a notion to be discussed. Why this is so is obvious from the proper viewpoint. 
• In this blog, we were gone, we said. Several times, with a brief look to see that the engineers were doing their marvels. You see, business and finance had a major failing. Idiots. That whole issue is still pending another take down by the world of nature. Never learn.
• Hence, we started the Fedaerated blog. Of late, we have been on Quora (the motivation for this post). 

Technology in and of itself is a blind alley. When will we learn this?

Remarks: Modified: 05/09/2019

05/09/2019 --