Faking reality in Flint

The state of Michigan has filed criminal charges against six more people in connection with the water problems in Flint.

“Some people failed to act, others minimized harm done and arrogantly chose to ignore data, some intentionally altered figures … and covered up significant health risks,” he said at a news conference today.

The charging documents are online.

Of the many disturbing aspects of this sad story, this is among the worst. The people who changed those figures could not have been unaware that the city was pumping contaminated water. Did they think that changing the numbers would change that reality?

Scientists and engineers live lives governed by the reality principle: Get the variables wrong, the experiment will fail, even if this seems insensitive; do the math wrong, the equation will tell you, even if that hurts your feelings. Reality does not similarly regulate the production of Marxist interpretations of “Middlemarch” or turgid monographs on the false consciousness of Parisian street sweepers in 1714. Literature professors “deconstructing” Herman Melville cause nothing worse than excruciating boredom in their students. If engineers ignore reality, reality deconstructs their bridges.

George Will

So: We have engineers who surrendered their responsibility, regulators who exceeded their authority, and munchkins who scurried around trying to hide the consequences.

Again, then: This was first and foremost a technical failure that should never have happened, but only grotesque failures of character made it possible to perpetuate the problem.

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