[trustable-software] What is Trustable About ?

[trustable at panic.fluff.org]

On Mon, 1 Apr 2019, Dan Shearer wrote:

> On Sun, 31 Mar 2019 at 13:14, <trustable at panic.fluff.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> As i've raised several times on this list, it is my view that trustable 
>> is about 'harm'
>
> Do you have work to support this idea? I am not familiar with the idea
> of harm being applicable to software generally in a quantifiable way.

So, I would suggest you begin with opening email which discusses the 
reasoning for these discussions. This call for discussion never mentions 
safety, it has always been phrased in terms of harm.

https://lists.trustable.io/pipermail/trustable-software/2016-July/000000.html

>By this I mean software which satisfies some or all of the following
> criteria
>
> - may cause physical harm to people either directly or indirectly
> - may cause psychological harm
> - may cause financial harm or damage productivity
> - may cause harm to the environment, either directly or as a 
side-effect
> - if hacked, could be exploited to cause any of the above


> Risk, yes for sure and there is a large body of work on that.
> Including absolute risk (as in, "don't use this software ever because
> it cannot operate correctly, by design.") But not harm. Business, law,
> compsci and mathematics can come to agreement on risk, because that is
> well-trodden ground.

So I believe I'm in agreement with you that the quantification of risk, 
within particular contexts are assessable and there are particularly with 
statistical methods to be able to approach this reasonably.

However, I think I would take an example from UK health and safety 
regulation to show their relationships

A hazard is something that can cause harm, e.g. electricity, chemicals, 
working up a ladder, noise, a keyboard, a bully at work, stress, etc. A 
risk is the chance, high or low, that any hazard will actually cause 
somebody harm. There is immediately liability for harm and this may be 
re-inforced by regulatory statute to address the issues of associate this 
harm and to improve safety.

  https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/467745

Edmund


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Edmund J. Sutcliffe                     Thoughtful Solutions; Creatively
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