PAPod 590 - Gird Your Loins: NASA, Risk, and the Return of Recrudescence
Episode 955
PreAccident Investigation Podcast
The Pre Accident Podcast is an ongoing discussion of Human Performance, Systems Safety, & Safety Culture.
Show Notes
Todd interviews Professor David Woods about recent NASA mishaps and a growing cultural shift toward "cheaper, faster" decision-making that sacrifices safety. They explore how past safety gains have lost vitality, highlight cascading modern risks (the "messy nine"), and argue for mutual assistance and revitalized resilience practices.
Wood's most recent writing on this is available in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists called: Cheaper, Faster, and Who Gives a Damn about Anything Else.
The episode connects space, aviation, cloud outages, and AI-driven engineering to show why coordinated foresight and cross-disciplinary cooperation are essential to prevent far-reaching harm in today’s complex systems.
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