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Man and the Machine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2010

W. P. Colquhoun
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Extract

Future transport systems are difficult to predict, but one can perceive three main possibilities. The first is that transport will become entirely automatic, so that where, for example, one now has an automatic pilot during flight, one will also have automatic take-off and automatic landing. Flights will be pre-programmed, and will require no supervision in the vehicle itself or even from a remote-control room. Whether or not such a system is practicable is not within the scope of this paper; but there does not appear to be any purely mechanical problem connected with it that could not be overcome. However the production of equipment of the necessary reliability raises formidable human problems. problems. Not the least among these is the difficulty of maintaining rigorous standards of inspection; another is the rationalization and speeding up of faultfinding and repair procedures. It looks as though if we were to dispense with the human element in one sphere, its importance in another would be enhanced.

Type
Blunders and Gross Human Errors in Navigation
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 1959 , pp. 30 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1959

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References

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