Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 08:15:54 -0500 (EST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IP] 2 more on Brainwave fault explains slip-ups To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dave,
Much as I love an angry dust-up between people who are reacting to a single, (probably distorted and "layman"-ized) press account of a scientific study, I would like to point out that p300 waves have been shown since the 1980s to be correlated with substance abuse and heritability.
Specifically, a tendency toward low p300 waves is inherited by the sons of identified alcoholics, which is in turn correlated with higher probability that the sons will also abuse alcohol.
Meaning? I'm sure no one knows. It is intriguing to ponder the relations among sleep, substance abuse, attention issues and, yes, minor accidents. Which is how I picked up on the p300 reference when Dave posted it, since it synched with some work I'm doing.
I think if Prof. Norman weren't being quite so inflammatory, he might have acknowledged that human individuals are "systems" with their own capacities and points of failure, especially when they interact with other systems, human and mechanical and social.
Absolving humans of all blame for their actions (including physical maintenance issues as adequate sleep and control of substance intake) by blaming the other systems hardly helps to create flexible and safe environments.
The Cambridge scientist used the word "implicated", he didn't say "caused". Perhaps Professor Norman wasn't paying attention by that point; his dudgeon was raised and his mind wandered just at the point when that crucial word went by. Luckily, no one was harmed by his slip-up.
Bruce Campbell
http://www.clicknation.com/snoof/
> "angry-economist" (his self-description) Russell Nelson takes me to > task for my rhetoric -- I argued that many so-called "human errors" > are really the result of a misguided corporate culture that pushes > immediate profits over safety (and therefore, over long-term profits > and > stability). Nelson chides me by stating: > > > Someone who is going to accuse other people of promulgating > > silly nonsense should refrain from it himself. "A > > profit-driven culture" is the cause of accidents? What is > > the alternative? A loss-driven culture?
------------------------------------- You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
