Does the application of computer machine to the different field of human work reduce the risk of committing mistakes?

Answer 1

sometimes, and sometimes not. computers do exactly what you tell them to, but if you tell them something wrong, or there is a computer error, it can be very dangerous. one example of computers being bad would be the therac-25, but there are thousands of computers performing reliably every day helping us work faster and safer. one example of that would be the GM assembly line. its mostly robotic, and robots are computer controlled

so all in all, i would have to say if it involves someones life/safety, if it wors the way it is, dont mess with it. but for mundane taskes that are highly repetitive, computerize the hell out of it

Answer 2

In general, computer use reduces the number of errors, increases efficiency in calculations and increases ease in entering data. However, just as spell check fails to correct all errors (eg. no and not; here and hear, for instance), there are opportunities for things to be missed. However, many of these same errors could occur without them.

Whether or not computers can help reduce mistakes depends on the type of work in question and the diligence used in designing the computer and/or software. Math problems are one common area of mistakes for humans. Once the numbers are correctly entered, the computer can solve them without the element of human error. The key is giving it the correct data. In cases where there is a lot of data and a lot of steps, then a computer can reduce the workload and the number of mistakes made by trying to rush.

Computer devices can also warn of hazards we wouldn't otherwise know about, such as the new back-over prevention units in new cars. Child injuries and fatalities from cars backing up should never happen. But unsupervised kids play under cars and inattentive parents or neighbors back over them with their cars. Similar happens with pets. So there are cameras and computer systems designed to look out for such things, alert the driver, and perhaps disable the engine.

However, computers can also increase the mistakes made. If someone inputs the wrong data, then very bad decisions can be made. Medical mistakes fall into this category. A doctor or lab technician can enter the wrong thing and the patient ends up with more expensive lab work or duplicate tests, and this in turn may lead to a messy billing dispute.

There was the situation where cancer patients were injured by a computer controlled radiation machine. There was a race condition in the software which led to problems. A race condition is when a part of the code in the software occasionally gets executed out of sequence. In addition, there was a glitch in the keyboard handing too, and non-essential keys were not properly masked or blocked. So invalid keystrokes caused the equipment to try to go into two different modes at the same time. Plus there were no mechanical interlocks on the machine side of things to prevent operation when the necessary guards and reflectors were not engaged. There was a high dose mode and a low dose mode, but if it attempted to do both, it led to unsafe doses. So all these oversights together led to harming patients.