Dumas (political economy, U. of Texas-Dallas) offers a level-headed evaluation of a host of potentially disruptive, dangerous, and in some cases lethal, technologies whose functioning depends on management by fallible, vulnerable human beings.
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Dumas (political economy, U. of Texas-Dallas) offers a level-headed evaluation of a host of potentially disruptive, dangerous, and in some cases lethal, technologies whose functioning depends on management by fallible, vulnerable human beings.
Read Less
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Seller's Description:
Very good in Very good jacket. xi, [1], 372 pages. Tables. Notes. Index. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Lloyd Jeff Dumas (born May 18, 1945) is a Professor of Political Economy, Economics, and Public Policy in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is an expert in many areas, including but not limited to, the economics of peace, economic conversion, the macroeconomics of military spending, climate change and economic solutions, human reliability pertaining to dangerous technologies, economic development and international economic consultancy accountability. Dumas has published more than 120 works in eleven languages in books and journals of economics, engineering, sociology, history, public policy, philosophy, military studies and peace science. Among his extensive publications are those found in newspapers/magazines including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, Technology Review, Defense News, Dallas Morning News, the Baltimore Sun, and the International Herald Tribune. Derived from a Kirkus review: Dumas sorts and classifies hundreds of past human errors and machine glitches that have led to death and disaster, then considers what can be done to prevent them in the future. The chilling answer is not much. Dumas recounts the well-reported mistakes at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island; the terrorism of Aum Shinrikyo, Timothy McVeigh, and the World Trade Center bombers, and the cult suicides of Heavenly Gate and Jim Jones followers. But the sheer weight of other less well-known destructive events is compelling: so many terrible hits, so many near catastrophes. Dumas's forte is in analyzing how and why mistakes are made, and to what extent technologies like hazardous chemicals and nuclear power are inherently dangerous. He describes the arrogant groupthink that promotes a dangerous belief in the groups infallibility. Dismissing technological fixes to problems of human error, he notes the fallibility of computers whose programs are still written by humans.
