首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Computers are permeating almost every aspect of our lives, including many areas previously untouched by technology. 1. But unlik
Computers are permeating almost every aspect of our lives, including many areas previously untouched by technology. 1. But unlik
admin
2013-11-29
32
问题
Computers are permeating almost every aspect of our lives, including many areas previously untouched by technology. 1.
But unlike such other pervasive technologies as electricity, television and the motor car, computers are on the whole less reliable and less predictable in their behavior. This is because they are discrete state digital electronic devices that are prone to total and catastrophic failure. Computer systems, when they are "down," are completely down, unlike electromechanical devices, which may be only partially down and are thus partially usable.
Computers enable enormous quantities of information to be stored, retrieved, and transmitted at great speed on a scale not possible before. 2.
This is all very well, but it has serious implications for data security and personal privacy because computers are inherently insecure. The recent activities of hackers and data thieves in the United States, Germany, and Britain have shown how all-too-easy it still is to break into even the most sophisticated financial and military systems. The list of scams perpetrated by the new breed of high-tech criminals, ranging from fraud in airline-ticket reservations to the reprogramming of the chips inside mobile phones, is growing daily.
Computers systems are often incredibly complex--so complex, in fact, that they are not always understood even by their creators (although few are willing to admit it). This often makes them completely unmanageable. Unmanageable complexity, can result in massive foul-ups or spectacular budget "runaways." For example, Jeffrey Rothfeder in Business Week reports that Bank of America in 1988 had to abandon a $20-million computer system after spending five years and a further $60 million trying to make it work. Allstate Insurance saw the cost of its new system rise from $8 million to a staggering $100 million and estimated completion was delayed from 1987 to 1993. Moreover, the problem seems to be getting worse: in 1988 the American Arbitration Association took on 190 computer disputes, most of which involved defective systems. The claims totaled $200 million--up from only $31 million in 1984.
3.
Complexity can also result in disaster: no computer is 100 percent guaranteed because it is virtually impossible to anticipate all sorts of critical applications, such as saving lives, flying aircraft, running nuclear power stations, transferring vast sums of money, and controlling missile systems--sometimes with tragic consequences. For example, between 1982 and 1987, some twenty-two servicemen died in five separate crashes of the United States Air Force’s sophisticated Blackhawk helicopter before the problem was traced to its computer-based "fly-by-wire" system.
At least two people died after receiving overdoses of radiation emitted by the computerized Therac 25 X-ray machines, and there are many other examples of fatal computer-based foul-ups.
Popular areas for less life-threatening computer malfunctions include telephone billing and telephone switching software, and bank-teller machines, electronic funds-transfer systems, and motor-vehicle license data bases. Although computers have often taken the "blame" on these occasions, the ultimate cause of failure in most cases is, in fact, human error.
Every new technology creates new problems as well as new benefits for society, and computers are no exception. 4.
But digital computers have rendered society especially vulnerable to hardware and software malfunctions. Sometimes industrial robots go crazy, while heart pacemakers and automatic garage door openers are rendered useless by electromagnetic radiation or "electronic smog" emitted from point-of-sale terminals, personal computers, and video games.
Automated teller machines (ATMs) and pumps at gas stations are closed down because of unforeseen software snafus.
The cost of all this downtime is huge. 5.
For example, it has been reported that British businesses suffer around thirty major mishaps a year, involving losses running into millions of pounds. These are caused by machine or human error and do not include human misuse in the form of fraud and sabotage. The cost of failures in domestically produced software in the United Kingdom alone is conservatively estimated at $ 900 million per year.
In 1989, a British Computer Society committee reported that much software was now so complex that current skills in safety assessment were inadequate and that therefore the safety of people could not be guaranteed.
选项
答案
例如,据报道,英国企业每年约遭受30起大灾难,损失达几百万英镑。这些损失是由机器或人为的失误引起的,这还不包括以骗局和破坏形式进行的人为滥用。根据保守的估计,仅英国国内制作的软件的故障造成的损失每年是9亿美元。
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/dUhO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Evenplantscanrunafever,especiallywhentheyareunderattackbyinsectsordisease.But【71】humans,plantscanhavetheirt
Evenplantscanrunafever,especiallywhentheyareunderattackbyinsectsordisease.But【71】humans,plantscanhavetheirt
Largecompaniesneedawaytoreachthesavingsofthepublicatlarge.Thesameproblem,onasmallerscale,facespracticallyev
Oflate,therehavebeenseveralpostssuggestingthatAmericahasnocultureorthatwhatcultureithasissomehowinferiorto
Aboutadecadeago,then-RepublicanHouseleaderNewtGingrichraisedabigstirwhenheimpliedthatamother’sdrowningofher
Aboutadecadeago,then-RepublicanHouseleaderNewtGingrichraisedabigstirwhenheimpliedthatamother’sdrowningofher
Concernedpeoplewantto______theriskofdevelopingcancer.
Scholarsandstudentshavealwaysbeengreattravelers.Theofficialcasefor"academicmobility"isnowoftenstatedinimpres
Itisadreamworld,wherechemistscanturnasow’searintoasilkpurse,wherebioengineerscanputalittlebitofasheepi
Themostsurprisingaspectofthemodernman’sgoodconscienceisthatheassertsandjustifiesitintermsofthemostvarieda
随机试题
麻醉前给药具有的作用是
A、Themanwilldrivethewomantoschool.B、Themanhasfinishedhisassignment.C、Themaniswillingtohelpthewoman.D、Them
急性阑尾炎穿孔局限性腹膜炎的手术治疗,哪项不妥
柠檬市场,也称次品市场,是指信息不对称的市场,即在市场中,产品的卖方对产品的质量拥有比买方更多的信息。柠檬市场效应则是指在信息不对称的情况下,往往好的商品遭受淘汰,而劣等品会逐渐占领市场,从而取代好的商品,导致市场中都是劣等品。根据上述定义,下列描述不符合
根据我国税收法律制度,对违反税法应当给予行政处罚,在( )年内未被发现的,不再给予行政处罚。
根据有关规定,决定证券交易所的设立和解散的是()。
()在数学史上第一次将圆周率值计算到小数点后的第7位,即3.1415926~3.1415927之间。
向公司部门经理汪某某发送一个E-mail报告生产情况,并抄送总经理刘某某。并将考生文件夹下的一个生产情况文件List.txt作为附件一起发送。具体如下:收件人为:WangLing@mail.pchome.com.cn;抄送为:Liuwf@mail.pch
Likeitornot,EnglishisthelinguafrancaofEurope.Accordingtothe【D1】________,some84percentofyoungpeopleintheECa
()番茄()莲藕()豌豆()卷心菜
最新回复
(
0
)