In the Washington DC area a week ago, we had a bad subway accident. One train collided into the back of another; nine people were killed. Evidently circuits, intended to prevent exactly that kind of accident, failed. Afterward, experts who have studied how humans interact with technological systems are suggesting that humans may come to rely so much on the proper working of complicated systems that they "tune out" and aren't prepared to provide human input when it's really needed. Others point out this is an issue in many other transportation disasters, like the Air France flight that plummeted into the ocean north of Brazil, or recent train accidents. This idea seems to have wide acceptance among analysts, and has a common-sense credibility, too.
Also within the past day or two, I read somewhere an item (which I can't find now) forecasting that self-driving, accident-avoiding cars, based on a combination of sensors, GPS, and other new technology, may be "closer than we think." But in light of my first paragraph, I have to ask, "Why?" Don't we already suffer from too many people doing too many other things behind the wheel other than focusing on their driving?
I have little confidence in technology that is supposed to replace the engagement of the human brain in complex situations. I guess my uneasy feeling is best encapsulated by the insurance commercial that has a driver, unperturbedly following the instructions of a voice from his GPS system, when the voice says "turn left" and he crashes head-on into a storefront. Increasingly "smart" technology in various applications can be a boon, but it's foolish to become too reliant on it.
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