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Path: utzoo!watmath!idallen
From: idallen@watmath.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: problems with Star Wars #2 (part 2: the crux)
Message-ID: <16069@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Aug-85 02:44:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmath.16069
Posted: Mon Aug  5 02:44:35 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Aug-85 07:51:21 EDT
References: <5772@utzoo.UUCP>, <1240@utcsri.UUCP> <5797@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 17

>> ...decision must be made within the first few seconds of boost.  What kind
>> of meaningful information can a human absorb, let alone digest, in this time?
> 
> "Oh no, look at that.  Missile launches all over the place.  OPEN FIRE!"
> I'm not talking about reading printouts, I'm talking about the same sort
> of real-time interaction that takes place when driving a car or flying an
> aircraft.  Similarly, I am not talking about digging the President out of
> bed; I'm talking about trained observers standing regular watches.
> -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology

One can only hope that the computer that decided those were missle
launches wasn't just dropping bits or seeing radar hash from the Moon.
Putting the computer as the last link in the decision chain is risky;
but so is putting it everywhere else.  Human beings deal better with
unexpected situations than computer programs.
-- 
        -IAN!  (Ian! D. Allen)      University of Waterloo