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This reminds be so much of the novel The Trial by Kafka. The sinister feeling of a machine beyond anyone's control or comprehension was a commentary on authorit

This reminds be so much of the novel The Trial by Kafka. The sinister feeling of a machine beyond anyone's control or comprehension was a commentary on authoritarianism and bureaucracy but it fits just as well, if not better to our age of computers making decisions in ways that will become increasingly hard to scrutinise. I hope this outcome finds its way into case books worldwide as a warning about placing too much faith in computer testimony over old fashioned human character witness and jurisprudence.

PaulKeeble 7y ago
Software is now in the walls, it is the infrastructure. If we don't have an answer for how to make it safe and reliable by the time regulators ask how to fix the industry anything could happen. We have spent way too much time on the speed of release and nowhere near enough on accuracy over the past decades.
- ownagefool 7y ago
  I've worked with Fujitsu in the UK. I consider them pretty terrible and I highly doubt said software was written to anything that would be considered a good standard. But it's not the software that failed to notice substantial amounts of "theft" after implementing a new IT system, it's not the software that put the outcome of peoples lives on the line, it's not the software that chased repayments and conviction, and it's not the software that completely failed at introspection and I'd alleged swept this all under the carpet. If this is actually all true and the world was perfectly just, we'd likely be seeing charges against Post Office management of the time, setting an example for the rest of them going forward, but I'll believe it when I see it.
  - lifeisstillgood 7y ago
    Precisely so.
- closeparen 7y ago
  > by the time regulators ask how to fix the industry When they do, they'll ask these companies, not HN.
ksangeelee 7y ago
It also brings to mind the section of The Castle where the chairman is explaining to K. how it came to be that a surveyor had been summoned. A miscommunication had led to a string of events that were never questioned due to the unwillingness of the authorities to even consider that an error had been made. The official investigating always assumes that the person he's dealing with is a scoundrel. That section of the book always brings to mind software development and bug-hunting. Kafka seems to have been immensely methodical, I think he'd have made a great dev.

PaulKeeble 7y ago

Software is now in the walls, it is the infrastructure. If we don't have an answer for how to make it safe and reliable by the time regulators ask how to fix the industry anything could happen. We have spent way too much time on the speed of release and nowhere near enough on accuracy over the past decades.

ownagefool 7y ago
I've worked with Fujitsu in the UK. I consider them pretty terrible and I highly doubt said software was written to anything that would be considered a good standard. But it's not the software that failed to notice substantial amounts of "theft" after implementing a new IT system, it's not the software that put the outcome of peoples lives on the line, it's not the software that chased repayments and conviction, and it's not the software that completely failed at introspection and I'd alleged swept this all under the carpet. If this is actually all true and the world was perfectly just, we'd likely be seeing charges against Post Office management of the time, setting an example for the rest of them going forward, but I'll believe it when I see it.
- lifeisstillgood 7y ago
  Precisely so.
closeparen 7y ago
> by the time regulators ask how to fix the industry When they do, they'll ask these companies, not HN.

ksangeelee 7y ago

It also brings to mind the section of The Castle where the chairman is explaining to K. how it came to be that a surveyor had been summoned. A miscommunication had led to a string of events that were never questioned due to the unwillingness of the authorities to even consider that an error had been made. The official investigating always assumes that the person he's dealing with is a scoundrel. That section of the book always brings to mind software development and bug-hunting. Kafka seems to have been immensely methodical, I think he'd have made a great dev.