I often think about one thing lately, which I conditionally call the 'WALRUS effect'. It's like we all gradually become walruses on the ice, sliding without leaving almost any traces, and no one really knows who is to blame when something goes wrong. At first glance, it seems unremarkable, but it’s a deceptive feeling.
This is most evident where data is stored automatically. The more processes happen ‘by themselves’, the harder it is to find a living person to point at and say, ‘This one did it’.
Imagine this: you are driving a Tesla on autopilot. The car itself retained a lot of data about the trip, decided how to brake, didn’t manage in time, oops, and there’s an accident. Who is responsible?
The engineer who wrote the code two years ago?
The one who configured the updates?
The company that said ‘trust us’?
Or you yourself, because you pressed ‘turn on’?
A trial usually ends with no one being particularly punished. Because ‘the system’, ‘the algorithm’, ‘automation’. And everyone is a little guilty, so no one is, everything looks logical.
Too much.
The same goes for social media. The algorithm decided to show you 147 videos about the same topic. You became more radical, aggressive over three weeks, started to hate people you previously just didn’t notice. Who is to blame?
The recommendation developer?
The product manager who set the metric ‘viewing time’?
The CEO?
Or you yourself, who was scrolling?
Again, responsibility is smeared thinly across the entire vertical. And no one feels it personally enough to actually change anything here.
And now imagine a medical system. The doctor looks at the electronic card, which was automatically filled by sensors, algorithms, third-party laboratories. An error in the data, oops, and the patient receives the wrong medication. Who is to blame?
The doctor who believed the numbers?
The one who wrote the integration between the hospital and the laboratory?
API Supplier?
Is it the ‘cloud’ itself, which quietly retained the incorrect value six months ago?
The more layers of automation, the thicker the layer of ‘no one is guilty’.
It seems to me that this is one of the most dangerous things happening right now. Because when no one feels the weight of the decision, decisions become increasingly frivolous. And the consequences grow larger each time.
Perhaps the only way to stop this is to bring the person back to the center of the chain. Not somewhere at the beginning and not somewhere at the end, but exactly where the most important decision is made. And for their name to stand next to this decision in large letters. Without ‘but the system...’, without ‘automatically...’, without ‘we all together’.
Otherwise, we all will simply turn into those same walruses.
Fat, satisfied, and completely irresponsible.
And then we will look at each other and ask:
‘So who allowed all this?’
And the answer will be honest:
‘We all. A little. At the same time.’ For now, it looks like this, but the situation is clearly not final.@Walrus 🦭/acc #walrus $WAL
