From: bretcahill@aol.com   
      
   > >>>> Put a retro or "my kingdom for a horse" switch on anything   
   > >>>> that seems unnecessarily over automated or when the additional   
   > >>>> sophistication is of a minor advantage.   
   > >>>>   
   > >>>> If anything doesn't seem perfect, tap the retro switch and you   
   > >>>> are back to flying by the seat of your pants or at least   
   > >>>> something that is less complicated / more proven technology.   
   > >>>>   
   > >>   
   > >> That's a typical engineer's solution. *Add* a switch to 'make   
   > >> things simpler'.   
   > >   
   > > Actually the goal was to make 'em comfortable wif eben _more_   
   > > sophistication.   
   > >   
   > > Boeing did put one over ride in the software.   
   > >   
   > > "When this system detects a dangerous flight condition, it trims the   
   > > aircraft, attempting to prevent a stall by pushing the nose down.   
   > > [...]   
   >    
   > I think Boeing's engineers have forgotten the single most important   
   > rule of a good user interface: The rule of least surprises. When the   
   > pilot takes the controls in hand, it's the pilot who flies the plane.   
   > The automatics should back off. No extra buttons should be needed.   
      
      
   Someone here once posted the Harrier jump jet had no interface.  The pilot was   
   the control system.  Using high speed propulsion to low speed VTOL is so   
   trickity yuman pilots might get better stats with an interface.  The tax payer   
   shouldn't be sponsoring    
   extreme motor sports with jet engines.   
      
   But there is no question that simple automation, i.e., the gas cutting off if   
   the flame on the stove burner gets blown out, has saved tens of thousands of   
   consumers' lives with very little inconvenience -- very good numbers in the   
   cost benefit analysis.   
      
   Before "the customer including every idiot is always right" meant dumbing   
   everything down for the bottom 30%, why GM would never let consumers buy the   
   EV-1.  They knew the ijiots would get stuck on the side of the road with a   
   discharged battery   
      
   As Musk has proven, this is no longer the case.  Products can be tailored to   
   different people.   
      
   So, a least at the consumer level where any mysterious button can now be   
   utubed for the 70% of the public more or less functional enough to keep their   
   cars out of the canyon, higher sophistication and automation should be very   
   aggressively pursued until    
   the cost benefit ratio starts to approach 1.   
      
   This can be facilitated with over rides, legacy or hot wire buttons, etc.   
      
   It wouldn't just save consumers time and money.  It would force an evaluation   
   of the long term reliability of each component in the machine which would   
   force improvements to the reliability.   
      
      
   Bret Cahill   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)