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The MTA's Oldest Controls Kept Going During the Tech Outage
- jmward01 2y agoNature has one solution to creating durable complex systems. Create an ecosystem with a lot of diversity in it. Mono-anything is bad because of all the obvious reasons that we have just seen.
- citrin_ru 2y agoDecentralisation IMHO another key to building durable complex systems. It’s worrisome to see modern systems become more and more centralised.
- somat 2y agoI agree, however note that diverse ecosystems are inefficient, or more accurately, they are inefficient until something comes along that that can kill your highly efficient mono culture. At which point you realize you were using the wrong metric for efficiency all along.
- Brian_K_White 2y ago“the MTA’s deeply fragmented IT systems are so mutually incompatible that at least only half the system crashes at one time.” Let me fix that for you “the MTA’s deeply fragmented IT systems are so mutually incompatible that at most only half the system crashes at one time.”
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- adolph 2y agoMTA knocked together a system that was comparatively half-baked. It is not wired into the mechanical signals, nor does it control the switches or link up to the PA. Instead, each train running on the lettered lines was equipped with a Bluetooth beacon (yes, the same technology that powers your wireless mouse) that trips a receiver as the subway nears a station, which then triggers the LCD screen over the platform to update. That seems like a prudent approach, not half baked. Keep the ancillary system air-gapped from the life critical parts.
- parl_match 2y agoYeah, detaching niceties from safety critical systems isn't half baked at all. I agree that being able to get the live data straight off of the signals would probably be "better", in that it'd be more accurate and timely, but building that in to the existing framework would have been really expensive and risky. What they landed on is an excellent solution.
- DiscourseFan 2y agoPerhaps this will precipitate another tech industry collapse like the dotcom boom. I can see most infrastructure being reverted to more basic systems to avoid this sort of thing in the future. Perhaps if the Saudi oil money had dried off sooner, Silicon Valley may have learned this lesson while they were drenched: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Unfortunately, like the Saudis, the tech overlords know the well is drying up, and see the state as the next set of boots to kiss. Or do you really think Elon's campaign donations are merely political?
- Animats 2y agoCommunications Based Train Control is a bit worrisome. It's too centralized, and worse, sometimes, the central part is outsourced.[1] [1] https://www.mobility.siemens.com/global/en/portfolio/digital-solutions-software/infrastructure/infrastructure-in-the-cloud/train2cloud.html https://www.mobility.siemens.com/global/en/portfolio/digital...
- silverlake 2y agoIn Battlestar Galactica the technology was purposely primitive to prevent cyber attack from Cylons. Same motivation for the MTA.
- vcxbx 2y ago[flagged]
- M95D 2y agoOld tech can certainly be more resilient, but I don't think it can outperform (as in "performance"), unless it's a safety system and it's resilience is it's performance.
- BugsJustFindMe 2y agoyou're replying to a bot. check their comment history.