[SystemSafety] Australian System Safety Conference 2018, May 23 to 25, Melbourne

[Fredrik Asplund]

Given that influence by culture is always indirect I am not sure that definition of "depends" is very useful in the context, but sure - then I understand what you mean.
Sincerely,
/ Fredrik

-----Original Message-----
From: systemsafety [mailto:systemsafety-bounces at lists.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de] On Behalf Of Peter Bernard Ladkin
Sent: den 8 december 2017 10:31
To: The System Safety List
Subject: Re: [SystemSafety] Australian System Safety Conference 2018, May 23 to 25, Melbourne

On 2017-12-08 10:08 , Fredrik Asplund wrote:
>> Whether the braking system on my bicycle is dependable is prima facie a technical engineering.
>> issue. It has two aspects: (a) whether the design and implementation 
>> of the system makes it effective and highly reliable; (b) whether I maintain it appropriately.
>> (a) is not at all cultural.
> 
> I am probably misunderstanding some part of the argument. How is (a) not dependent on the culture of the bike manufacturer?

The same way in which the correct proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is not dependent upon the psychology of Andrew Wiles and Richard Taylor and the culture which nourishes them and which enables them to think about it to the exclusion of almost anything else for many hours per day.

The same way in which the five-sigma evidence of the existence of the Higgs boson is not dependent upon the organisational culture of CERN.

Whether it exists is dependent on cultural factors. When it exists, its properties (for my bicycle brakes, physical; for the proof, mathematical and logical; for the evidence, statistical) are not necessarily dependent on any cultural factors at all.

PBL

Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Bielefeld, Germany MoreInCommon Je suis Charlie
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs-bi.de