As soon as Dr. Goates told us that the Carter Racing statistics were actually taken from the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster of 1986 I knew that I would write about it in my blog post tonight. I have been thinking a lot about the decision making process and in particular the decision to race or not race.. to launch or not to launch.
I feel that when people get involved in making a good decision they get so caught up in various courses of action and their outcomes, that a lot of times the most important solution to the problem could be forgotten. I believe that inaction gets skipped over because we feel the need to prove ourselves and to succeed. When you think of a person who does not do a lot the words lazy, coward, etc. come to mind. I don't think that these are always true because inaction can sometimes produce the best end result when it comes to decision making.
A lot of us in class today said that the Carter team should definitely race. We brought up good points about how the team had come so far already and how if you want to win you have to take risks, but if not racing will allow the team the most stability and better them in the long run, they should not be ridiculed for their inaction. When I think of the 1986 Challenger, I think about how the decision for inaction could have saved the lives of many smart individuals during that time. Like Dr. Goates said, if we have the knowledge to understand the probability of a positive or negative outcome of action, some of the top scientists of the time must have known what could result. While I am sure that those on board the Challenger knew of the risks they were taking, I feel that the mission itself could have been pushed back at least to prevent such a negative outcome to occur. Either way, I think it is a good idea to consider inaction when choosing the best decision for a positive outcome.
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