
We hold people with power to account. Why not algorithms? - mayamatrix
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/17/power-algorithms-technology-regulate
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IvyMike
> We hold people with power to account.

Do we really? I feel like the age of "the buck stops here" ended about 30
years ago.

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tabtab
Engineers have to sign off that things like bridges use sound engineering
principles. We could require the same of software engineers, but it would jack
up the price of software, being software engineers would require much more
vetting before they sign because their license would be on the line. How much
more do you want to pay for software?

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UpshotKnothole
It depends. Is that software running some shitty web app, or my car?

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tabtab
The cars are probably running on shitty web apps :-)

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UpshotKnothole
Touché. Either way, I’d be happy to pay more for software in applications that
are relatively important, and less concerned about software that doesn’t have
some bearing on whether I live or die. In the end though, won’t there have to
be something like what bridge builders have? If we imagine a future of self
driving cars, however distant, it seems almost inevitable.

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tabtab
I've asked people to draft up sample legislation for such, and it becomes a
nightmare to cover everything. Software usually has more "operational
variations" (conditionals) than hardware or physical objects such that
extrapolating physical engineering to software doesn't appear to work well.

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rrauenza
That's written by Hannah Fry -- often seen on Numberphile on YouTube.

