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On 6/9/2024 1:05 PM, Phil Hobbs wrote:
> john larkin <jl@650pot.com> wrote:
>> On Sun, 9 Jun 2024 13:28:58 -0000 (UTC), Phil Hobbs
>> <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:
>>
>>> john larkin <jl@650pot.com> wrote:
>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Story-Heroism-Disaster-Space/dp/198217661X
>>>>
>>>> This is a very well researched and written book, and a sad, ghastly
>>>> story.
>>>>
>>>> It reminds me that humans have no purpose in space but to die.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> Of course most folks here don’t really think that we have any purpose here
>>> either.
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Phil Hobbs
>>
>> Whatever our purpose, killing astronauts probably doesn't help.
>>
>> Spending hundreds of billions on spam-in-a-can is a waste of resources
>> that could truly help.
>>
>> The book is fascinating. The fatheads that decided to launch cared
>> about power, money, and politics. The investigations after the
>> disaster, the same. A few very brave engineers runined their careers
>> to literally shout the truth. And Richard Feynman, who knew he was
>> dying of cancer.
>>
>>
> 
> Sounds like an expanded rehash of the presidential commission report.  For
> the other side of the story, I highly recommend Diane Vaughan’s “The
> Challenger Launch Decision”.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Phil Hobbs
> 

I think it's less about any particular individual's greed or will to 
power but  more about the dangers of formal "processes" in large 
organizations which have become so large and ossified that the processes 
become circular and self-referential.

In some particularly idiotic cases the processes don't have to become 
particularly large or self-referential to cause disaster, the classic 
"Well the designer signed off on the modifications to the plans so that 
means they reviewed them and they're safe for the contractor to 
implement.." "Wait, the designer signed off on them because they thought 
the contractor had reviewed them...didn't they?" has definitely cost 
lives before, and probably will again