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I want to agree with your thesis, but it's impossible to foresee every possible outcome. Leaky abstractions aside, bugs aside, misaligned incentives (the new "I

I want to agree with your thesis, but it's impossible to foresee every possible outcome. Leaky abstractions aside, bugs aside, misaligned incentives (the new "I was just following orders", as someone here immortally put it) aside, it is impossible to imagine a priori all the ways a certain outcome that is desirable now will be undesirable in the future. Every step of the development ladder is fraught with possibilities for error and catastrophe. To quote James Goldman: "It is too simple. Life, if it's like anything at all, is like an avalanche. To blame the little ball of snow that starts it all, to say it is the cause, is just as true as it is meaningless."

KineticLensman 7y ago
It's useful to distinguish between responsibility and accountability here. The algorithms may be responsible for a particular outcome but the people who commissioned them should be accountable.
- phkahler 7y ago
  What about turnover? If the buck stops at the CEO, what happens when that person moves on? Is their successor responsible for everything that went on prior? Im not saying either way, just asking how that should work.
  - onion2k 7y ago
    Is their successor responsible for everything that went on prior? Yes. That wouldn't even be a change to the current system. That's how it works now. If you take on the role of CEO and it turns out that years earlier the company did something terrible you will be expected to resign. It's one of the reasons they demand so much money.
    - phkahler 7y ago
      In that case they might want a very in depth analysis of what they're getting into prior to taking the job. How much does that happen?
      - AndrewKemendo 7y ago
        Pretty much always if the incoming CEO can competitively negotiate and is a good hire. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of career CEOs are good hardworking people. Like any high profile position, the outliers skew perception for everyone.

KineticLensman 7y ago

It's useful to distinguish between responsibility and accountability here. The algorithms may be responsible for a particular outcome but the people who commissioned them should be accountable.

phkahler 7y ago
What about turnover? If the buck stops at the CEO, what happens when that person moves on? Is their successor responsible for everything that went on prior? Im not saying either way, just asking how that should work.
- onion2k 7y ago
  Is their successor responsible for everything that went on prior? Yes. That wouldn't even be a change to the current system. That's how it works now. If you take on the role of CEO and it turns out that years earlier the company did something terrible you will be expected to resign. It's one of the reasons they demand so much money.
  - phkahler 7y ago
    In that case they might want a very in depth analysis of what they're getting into prior to taking the job. How much does that happen?
    - AndrewKemendo 7y ago
      Pretty much always if the incoming CEO can competitively negotiate and is a good hire. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of career CEOs are good hardworking people. Like any high profile position, the outliers skew perception for everyone.