Dear Reader,
Another corollary of Lesson 1.1 is that, because humans are fallible, they will never predict all the consequences of their actions. As such, there will always be unintended consequences. Always. (Lesson 2.3).
One of my favourite blogs that looks at (among other things) the impact of unintended consequences, Freakonomics, has a multitude of examples of these, from how legalising abortion seems to have contributed to reducing the crime rate, to how the name given to a baby is a better predictor than you might think of its future success. And the best part is, they've backed it up with empirical data analysis.
They have an interesting example of the potential impact that technology will have on real estate values.
xx - S
Showing posts with label Non-human Lessons - Section 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Non-human Lessons - Section 2. Show all posts
Monday, 30 December 2013
Thursday, 26 December 2013
Lesson 2.0
Dear Reader,
I'm sure you're familiar with Murphy's Law - if anything can go wrong, it will (Lesson 2.0). For better or worse, a corollary of Lesson 1.1 is that everything that has been built in the world has (OK, more often than not in a roundabout kind of way) been designed and built by humans - who are fallible. And the stuff that wasn't, hasn't been designed at all, and therefore can be expected to not behave exactly as you'd like it.
Now, much as I'd like to think that shouting at the things/systems that aren't working as well as they should be will make them work better, past experience suggests that this isn't really a particularly effective solution (although "percussive maintenance" - that is to say, hitting (or kicking, if you're really irritated) things until they work - has actually been known to have a positive result in certain situations; although it tends to break things in others).
As such, it's worth expecting things to go wrong, and to have at least one (independent) backup in place, and planning a way of fixing any problems that arise from the offset.
So, the next time my cat walks across my laptop and manages to invert the screen, set my default language as Russian and turn on Filter Keys on my keyboard (which happens more frequently than you'd think), I'll try and remind myself that neither my cat nor my computer is fluent in English, particularly not when I'm shouting at it.
Instead, I'll use the combination of other useful (although still ultimately fallible) inventions of my smartphone, google, doors (to keep the sodding cats out) and a glass of good wine to fix the problems.
xx - S
I'm sure you're familiar with Murphy's Law - if anything can go wrong, it will (Lesson 2.0). For better or worse, a corollary of Lesson 1.1 is that everything that has been built in the world has (OK, more often than not in a roundabout kind of way) been designed and built by humans - who are fallible. And the stuff that wasn't, hasn't been designed at all, and therefore can be expected to not behave exactly as you'd like it.
Now, much as I'd like to think that shouting at the things/systems that aren't working as well as they should be will make them work better, past experience suggests that this isn't really a particularly effective solution (although "percussive maintenance" - that is to say, hitting (or kicking, if you're really irritated) things until they work - has actually been known to have a positive result in certain situations; although it tends to break things in others).
So, the next time my cat walks across my laptop and manages to invert the screen, set my default language as Russian and turn on Filter Keys on my keyboard (which happens more frequently than you'd think), I'll try and remind myself that neither my cat nor my computer is fluent in English, particularly not when I'm shouting at it.
Instead, I'll use the combination of other useful (although still ultimately fallible) inventions of my smartphone, google, doors (to keep the sodding cats out) and a glass of good wine to fix the problems.
xx - S
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