Man in the loop: The Flawless Computer

When coping with complex problems and sensible data, it is sometimes difficult to advert dangerous errors and losses.

Fortunately, there is always the “Technical Innovation paradigm”: no matter what the problem is, somebody will come with a technical solution. Even (particularly?) if the problem is not a technical issue.

While it would be more sound and sane to dig up the process, to optimize the workflow and to improve the way we work, we often run into the next technical innovation, aptly sold by a brilliant consultant.

Thus, the level of entropy increases, as the everlasting problem is handled by more complex technical platforms which, like anything else, have their own unsettled issues.

However, in the mind of most investors, managers and even clients, the computer is still a “flawless solution” in regard to the “error prone man in the loop”. They just forget one thing: computers are designed by humans. Choosing a computer to perform a task is just a way to shift the source of errors from the man who was in charge to the man who conceived the computer.

Errors still happen, and there is still room for improvement, process tuning, procedures enhancement… And even sound and well-thought technical innovation, sometimes…