Leah Washington and her new boyfriend Joe Pugh are on their first time out collectively. They’re at Alton Towers theme park, the place they’ve chosen to trip the “Smiler” rollercoaster: a terrifying tangle of monitor that loops and swoops by means of a world-record 14 inversions. Leah and Joe are seated proper on the entrance of the practice, and as they attain the very best level of the trip, they metal themselves for the drop. However then, fairly out of the blue, the trip stops.
Down on the bottom, the pc system that controls the rollercoaster is warning that one other carriage is out on the monitor, proper within the path of Leah and Joe’s practice. The engineers are sure the pc is fallacious…
Algorithms are sometimes quicker and cleverer than people, they usually will help us keep away from accidents. However computer systems can make errors. When ought to we belief our personal heads as a substitute of the machine?
Additional studying
Three key sources on the Smiler accident are Steven Flanagan’s professional report, the Well being and Security Govt’s Factual Report, and the decide’s remarks on the finish of the court docket case.
On Paul Meehl’s concepts, see his Autobiography and his essay on when to make use of your head somewhat than the method.
We additionally relied on reporting from the Mirror, and interviews with Leah Washington in Cosmopolitan and on “This Morning“.
