{"product_id":"rational-accidents-isbn-9780262546997","title":"Rational Accidents","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn unflinching look at the unique challenges posed by complex technologies we cannot afford to let fail—and why the remarkable achievements of civil aviation can help us understand those challenges.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNuclear reactors, deep-sea drilling platforms, deterrence infrastructures—these are all complex and formidable technologies with the potential to fail catastrophically. In \u003ci\u003eRational Accidents\u003c\/i\u003e, John Downer outlines a new perspective on technological failure, arguing that undetectable errors can lurk in even the most rigorous and “rational” assessments of these systems due to the inherent limits of engineering tests and models. Downer finds that it should be impossible, from an epistemological viewpoint, to achieve the near-perfect reliability that we require of our most safety-critical technologies. There is, however, one such technology that demonstrably appears to achieve these “impossible” reliabilities: jetliners.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDowner looks closely at civil aviation and how it has reckoned with the problem of failure. He finds that the way we conceive of jetliner reliability hides the real practices by which it is achieved. And he shows us why those practices are much less transferrable across technological domains than we are led to believe. Fully understanding why jetliners don't crash, he concludes, should lead us to doubt the safety of other “ultra-reliable” technologies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA unique and sobering exploration of technological reliability from an STS perspective, \u003ci\u003eRational Accidents\u003c\/i\u003e is essential reading for understanding why our most safety-critical technologies are even more dangerous than we believe.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION: PURPOSE, SCOPE, AND STRUCTURE xv\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI THE AVIATION PARADOX I\u003cbr\u003e I CATASTROPHIC TECHNOLOGIES: THE RISE OF RELIABILITY AS A VARIABLE OF CONSEQUENCE 3\u003cbr\u003e 2 FINITISM AND FAILURE: ON THE LOGICAL IMPLAUSIBILITY OF ULTRAHIGH RELIABILITY 17\u003cbr\u003e3 THE AVIATION PARADOX: ON THE IMPOSSIBLE RELIABILITY OF JETLINERS 29\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eII CONFRONTING ULTRAHIGH RELIABILITY 39\u003cbr\u003e 4 ORGANIZING AVIATION SAFETY: RELIABILITY REQUIREMENTS AND LOGICS 41\u003cbr\u003e 5 WHEN THE CHICK HITS THE FAN: TESTING AND THE PROBLEM OF RELEVANCE 53\u003cbr\u003e 6 THE SUM OF ALL PARTS: MODELING RELIABILITY WITH REDUNDANCY 71\u003cbr\u003e 7 RATIONAL ACCIDENTS: ON FINITISM’S CATASTROPHIC IMPLICATIONS 89\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e III MASTERING ULTRAHIGH RELIABILITY 109\u003cbr\u003e 8 PARADOX RESOLVED: TRANSCENDING THE LIMITS OF TESTS AND MODELS 111\u003cbr\u003e 9 DESIGN STABILITY REVISITED: CONTEXT, CAVEATS, COMPOSITES, AND CONCORDE 131\u003cbr\u003e 10 SAFETY COSTS: THE STRUCTURAL FOUNDATIONS OF ULTRARELIABLE DESIGN 151\u003cbr\u003e 11 INCENTIVES IN ACTION: ON DEFICIENT 737s AND NEGLECTED SURVIVABILITY 173\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIV RECKONING WITH CATASTROPHIC TECHNOLOGIES 191\u003cbr\u003e 12 BURDENS OF PROOF: THE HIDDEN COSTS OF POSITIVISM 193\u003cbr\u003e 13 THE MYTH OF MASTERY: ON THE UNDERAPPRECIATED LIMITS OF TECHNOLOGICAL AMBITION 211\u003cbr\u003e 14 FUKUSHIMA REVISITED: REAPING THE WHIRLWINDS OF CERTAINTY 223\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNOTES 235\u003cbr\u003e REFERENCES 255\u003cbr\u003e INDEX 293“How has air travel been made so safe? Can we do the same with, for example, nuclear power? Downer’s in-depth investigation should change how we think about risks of catastrophe.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Donald MacKenzie, Professor of Sociology, University of Edinburgh\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eRational Accidents\u003c\/i\u003e is an important contribution to our understanding of safety and accidents. Downer finds the key to high reliability in jet aircraft less in keen engineering design, and more from engineers’ and operators’ deep learning from past accidents.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Scott D. Sagan, Caroline S. G. Munro Memorial Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University\u003c\/b\u003eJohn Downer is Associate Professor in Science and Technology Studies at the University of Bristol.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303760548069,"sku":"NP9780262546997","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262546997.jpg?v=1767735416","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/rational-accidents-isbn-9780262546997","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}