1/ 7 crew members died the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster. The problem was O-rings that failed at launch. Some of the engineers worried about the O-rings but didn’t speak out. They knew but no one did anything.

Jun 27, 2021 · 10:48 AM UTC

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2/ More than 150 people died when an apartment building collapsed in Miami this week. A 2018 engineer’s report had warned of “major structural damage” to the building but no one had acted on the report. They knew but no one did anything.
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3/ Both situations reflect the way we’re dealing with climate change. The problem is urgent, the warnings are there, yet we’re acting on it with the speed of swimming through a vat of molasses. At the rate we’re going our descendants will say, “They knew but no one did anything.”
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4/ We keep acting as though we’ll solve our problems by accumulating more data, but lack of data isn’t the problem. Complacency and entrenched systemic resistance is the problem. Lack of courage, lack of wisdom and lack of leadership is the problem. The time for awakening is now.
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5/ Correction re O-ring story: one engineer famously did try to warn about the O-rings and was overruled at the time by management (the analogy is even better) spacesafetymagazine.com/spac…
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Replying to @marwilliamson
The crewmates should’ve called an emerency meeting.
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GIF
Replying to @marwilliamson
Not too worry, it will only cost hundreds of millions or billions of lives this time! Thin the herd as the Aristocrats put it. #DirectDemocracy #ResourceBasedEconomy
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Replying to @marwilliamson
True. The payload was considered more important than human lives. And since those who decided to put profit before people were white no one spent a day in jail for murder. Have I left anything out?
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Replying to @marwilliamson
I watched this yesterday. It's about a British woman who saw a memo & leaked it to the press, in the hope of stopping an illegal war & saving lives. We don't produce many people with integrity, despite psychology literally telling us how to do it.
Starring Keira Knightley, Matt Smith and Ralph Fiennes, witness the untold true story of one woman’s fight for truth. #OfficialSecrets arrives in cinemas October 18.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Saw that crash live. Not good to see. Heard about the o-rings and that made it more tragic.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Corporate structure is always putting business degrees over engineering. After a while you just stop fighting to prevent things, and just get better at fixing the problems after the inevitable failures.
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And the O ring problem was due to thermal expansion/contraction, something some learn in Physics 101, or most learn from interacting with world, eg sticky door jambs when the temp changes!
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Subsequentl- research done re the human dynamics/interaction in the Mission's Operating Room Interesting to read There was a "hierarchy" whereby some staff has "permission" to speak ie express any concerns-questions Whereas others could not do so-inhibited by their "superiors"2/
Research h/been done re the inter-personal interaction between operatives in Mission's Operations Room Found that there was a "hierarchy" whereby some operatives were discouraged from speaking out-depending upon their professional"status" So legitimate concerns were unexpressed2/