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Programming Ethics (cont)

Algorithms can save lives.


Uberlingen airplane collision 1/7/02 at 11:35pm …
  • passenger jet V9 2937 and cargo jet QY 611 on collision course at 36,000 feet
  • ground air traffic controller instructed V9 pilot to descend
  • seconds later, the automatic Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)
    • instructed V9 2937 to climb
    • instructed QY 611 to descend
  • flight 611's pilot followed TCAS, flight 2937's pilot ignored TCAS
  • all 71 people on board the two planes killed
⇒ Collision would not have occurred had both pilots followed TCAS