World War 3 will be because of bad software

3 points by andreftavares 13 years ago | 5 comments

Seeing how software is developed and how everyday that goes by our life depends more on it, I'm afraid that the next world meltdown won't be caused by a war but by bad software.

Not only are our lives increasingly dependent of software, everything around us is. Nowadays, even TVs have software updates. WTF?! It won't be soon until even our coffee machine will crash and deprive us from the much needed caffeine. How will we be able to work without coffee?

Honestly, I think the major concern today isn't global warming. We all should care about how good software is! If people burst when they have to ctrl+alt+del their computer just to get back into Facebook, imagine what will happen if you car, pacemaker, whatever crashes.

Seriously. Stop playing pretend engineers.

(Link to post: http://andretavares.com/2012/07/13/world-war-3-bad-software/)

kellros 13 years ago |

Haha. I had a chuckle.

Technology handled irresponsibly corrupts. Remember EFNETeers flooding IRC? Or the AOLers chatting?

Proof: http://bash.org/?21154

<NickBlasta> asl?

<Cryph> unf?

<NickBlasta> no

<NickBlasta> asl

<Cryph> unf?

<NickBlasta> u want the cyber

<NickBlasta> ?

<Cryph> unf!

<NickBlasta> fap fap

<[H]Klypr8> parlor.asf

<[H]Tongboy> lol, I come back for a minute on accident, and I see what looks like 2 aolers trying to mate

Remember when 133t speak was cool, then became uncool and then proper spelling and grammer became the norm again? SMS has stupified a lot of people - lk u cnt u rd ths. One problem was solved (short messaging) and a bigger problem was created (adults who don't know the proper use of grammar or how to spell).

The same thing is happening in the business sphere - people want software that should know how to do their job. Inventory management? Writing out invoices? Calculating tax? Selling your product?

I believe that dependence on technology to that degree indicates the persons involved aren't capable of running their own business. If you can make a business idea work 'offline' then you have a chance 'online' - otherwise you are just betting the bank.

Good software can't make up for unskilled people. Don't blame the tools, blame the users! (HAR HAR). After all, software is much easier to fix compared to people.

mikecane 13 years ago |

Pray there are still smart human beings to override the machines:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

PonyGumbo 13 years ago |

>It won't be soon until even our coffee machine will crash and deprive us from the much needed caffeine. How will we be able to work without coffee?

French press.

bdunbar 13 years ago |

Seriously. Stop playing pretend engineers.

As soon as the powers that be recognize that software is a craft, not an engineering discipline.

quink 13 years ago |

I think the problem solves itself quite elegantly:

"Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window."

-- Steve Wozniak