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A comment on The programmer behind the THERAC-25 Fiasco was never found. Parent comment

Re:The programmer behind the THERAC-25 Fiasco was never found by sgift on Monday December 02, 2019 @02:19AM (#21680518)
No, it's not. I think it would even have been counterproductive to find that programmer. People would have latched onto "see, it was a bad programmer!" and the real problems could have been forgotten.

The investigators did the right thing, they focused on the systematic problems. And the coworkers also did the right thing by not providing someone as a scapegoat.

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Re:The programmer behind the THERAC-25 Fiasco was never found by Thorrez on Monday December 02, 2019 @04:12AM (#21680975)
I would think it's easier to blame someone you've never talked to than to blame someone you have talked to.

If they had interviewed him, he might have revealed systematic failures in many other parts of the company. But if he's a nameless individual who can't say anything, he can be a silent scapegoat.

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[dead]
Re:The programmer behind the THERAC-25 Fiasco was never found by saagarjha on Monday December 02, 2019 @05:46AM (#21681366)
Why would you be willing to testify on the shortcomings of your work if you’re going to end up as blurb taken out of context alongside your face as “the Therac-25 murderer” in the news?
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