621–630 of 667 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you’re willing to spend a few lives, you can do that much cheaper than Artemis which aims to be perfectly safe but doesn’t actually succeed.
> aims to be perfectly safe obviously that isn't true -- it aims to be relatively safe ...but in any case - it aims to bring humanity to the moon . That's the aim. Keep your eye on the prize.
"do what scares you...that's why I'm [on artemis]"
clearly very risk-aware.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I highly doubt that the kind of rockets they are developing for Lunar and Mars missions will be mich better, if any better at all, than current ballistic missiles armies around the world already have. Those space rockets are huge and meant to more or less safely carry people over a long distance in space. Warheads are meant to carry explosives while also being hard to detect or stop. I'm no rocket scientist, bu…
Well, it never hurts to be prepared for the war against Europaeans (aliens from Europa, satellite of Jupiter).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Putting people in a position where they need to treat their power with absolute humility or accept humiliation (and a major blow to their careers) in order to do the right thing is going to fail 99% of the time. I don't know... we select those people. Usually not for their ability to treat their power with humility, though. That's my argument in favour of quotas (e.g. for women): the way we select people in power n…
>That's my argument in favor of quotas (e.g. for women): Just saying - my observation: statistically the most competent will be white old males. Same goes for humility.
Sounds weird to me. Is it a "just saying - my observation" kind of take, or is it statistics? It cannot be both, can it?
Obviously we don't have any statistics about that, first because we don't have any measure that can say who the "most competent" is when it comes to "being in a position of power". The only measure we have is that the person in power was competent enough to get in power, which doesn't mean they are not toxic (very often, they are).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the hypothetical scenario where car seats have only downsides, then of course I’m against a mandate. There is a difference between cherry picking studies that back up your view point and how medical experts set policy though. Experts review all of the data, and ignore outliers like a paper published in a law journal that suggests car seats are the primary reason families have shrunk from having three to two kids s…
In this conversation, you have repeatedly referred to "all of the data" and "mountains of data," yet you have posted none. Meanwhile I have posted every major study on both sides of the debate! Your argument seems to be that: - the experts have told people to use car seats - experts wisely base policy on "all of the data" - therefore, "all of the data" must support the claim that car seats save lives If we're going t…
Experts almost always set policy better than non-experts doing their own research. Especially on complex topics.
There is no point in two amateurs arguing over a topic they don't understand.
All I can do is refer to the publicly available reasoning and studies of experts, which have evidence and conclusions opposite of the amateur conclusion above.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The astronauts are cool with it. They are basically brainwashed to rationalize exceptional trust in all of the people and components so that they are able to focus on the task at hand.
I wouldn't say brainwashed, but they're definitely aware of the political angles related to succeeding with a career at NASA and almost always agree to play ball without causing trouble for the org.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I get it. There are a couple of things I think about: First, things weren't like this even 10 years ago. Humility in power had long been a fundamental American moral before that: All are created equal , the rejection of aristocracy, and the foundation of freedom and self-determination; freedom of religion and speech - nobody else should tell someone what to say or their religion; George Washington refusing to accept…
> I don't see how those things reconcile. For one, and once again: those people spend most of their life knowing they won't access a position of power. White males who don't have the profile of the "dominant white males" are in a different position: they don't grow up knowing it, they have to realise eventually that they are just the kind of white males who gets power. And if they do, the risk is that they fall back…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> people who make it into management are often egoists > they were incapable of accepting humiliation I agree mostly but here is a different take on it: I think these are normal human feelings and behaviors - not the best of us, but not unusual either. If we want to get good things done, we need to work with and through human nature. Power corrupts everyone and shame is generally the most painful thing for humans. Pu…
>If you see a system in which so many fail, then the problem is the system. Nope, it's start off with individuals, often way up above. Calling a system problematic is, essentially saying no one is responsible.
That's a great and essential point.
I think if we deal with reality, the correlation between system and human behavior is inescapable. And of course leaders and managers have a strong influence on the people they lead/manage (and vice versa to a lesser degree), and peers have a strong influence on each other. Otherwise, leaders might as well not exist. We are social creatures.
At the same time, each of us is fully responsible for what we individually do.
It can be a hard circle to square, and there it becomes a vivd issue at times: If the general orders something immoral or illegal, the colonel passes the order to the captain, and the seargent takes a squad to do it and the private carries it out, who is responsible and how much?
All of them are responsible, of course. But how much? Do we hold the 18 year old private as responsible as their officer, the captain? Do we hold the young officer as responsible as an senior one?
My point is, that for the private, we do offload some responsibility to the system. For the general, much less so. (Or we should; often the general and others use their influence to get out of it and the captain or private is blamed.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>That's my argument in favor of quotas (e.g. for women): Just saying - my observation: statistically the most competent will be white old males. Same goes for humility.
> Just saying - my observation: statistically Sounds weird to me. Is it a "just saying - my observation" kind of take, or is it statistics? It cannot be both, can it? Obviously we don't have any statistics about that, first because we don't have any measure that can say who the "most competent" is when it comes to "being in a position of power". The only measure we have is that the person in power was competent enoug…
No, this is not any official statistics. It's personal observation. Just like I can conclude that statistically most men are taller than women based on personal observation. ( you can remove the word statistic if I sound confusing)
( At this point I generally like to ask the person who I am conversing with - what is your real world experience with complex technical projects? Or alternatively do you exchange notes with people who manage complex technical projects.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just had a conversation about engineers not understanding the need for grounding. I'm wondering if every generation has to relearn the basics for themselves through experience. Each generation has to make the same mistakes. Because book learning doesn't seem to do it for some things.
Sure. Even a history of safety success contributes to this. We haven't had an accident in 3000 days, what was dangerous about this job again? Also what's this stupid policy for anyway, I've never seen anybody even come close to (non-dangerous-sounding fate) while working here. But probably the policy is in place because it used to happen before the policy was in place. It's just not obvious to people who have never s…
I'm also reminded of the Yale machine shop safety supervisor who died by getting herself wound around a lathe spindle. Working alone, late at night on powerful rotating machinery wearing loose clothing.