This episode is about a clash of principles I call the “Question of Final Authority”.

The question is: In a given situation, should automation be designed to prevent system states which the designers judge to be dangerous, or should the interface provide facility for the operator to execute any control at any time?”

The dilemma regarding whether to provide hard interlocks or allow overrides can be found in many industries:

For road transport: should speed limits be automatically enforced, or should drivers have the ultimate control?

For military engines: should thermal limits be allowed to be temporarily exceeded through the use of “battle shorts†in emergency or combat situations?

For aircraft: should “alpha†or “flight envelope†protection be strictly enforced, or permitted to be exceeded at the judgement of the pilot?

For railways: should signal interlockings be overridden (or signals permitted to be disobeyed) in order to move trains out of dangerous situations?

For smart infusion pumps, which provide limits on medication doses: should these limits be soft, where they can be overridden by doctors or hard, where they can never be overridden?

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