NYC subway gets a computerized facelift via Slashdot
Well it looks like the NYC trains are finally joining the rest of the world and, of course, the folks on Slashdot have something to say about it. According to the article, there are still "concerns about safety". I find this funny for a number of reasons:- First, why is this being referenced from the Boston.com site? From my understanding, there are a couple of newspapers in NYC who probably could have covered it (and probably did!) Wouldn't it be appropriate to check one of those first?
- Second, look at the slashdot readers and their comments. As they bicker back and forth about fail-safes and hackers, I wish they would think a little bit about what they were saying before they said it (note: present company and/or me excluded). Is it really possible that they NYC MTA would do a change like this without thinking a LITTLE bit about the ramifications?
- Third, why would they be concerned about safety? Do you think that trains are really that safe today? I suspect you could tell an operator to stop RIGHT NOW and they wouldn't be able to bring it to a halt in under two hundred feet. With computers, you could do some amazing shit. Pressure sensitive doors and walls. Infrared cameras. It'd be awesome! Not that it'd be that much safer. The train is still about 65 million pounds and trying to stop that quickly is not easy.
