Ulrich Beck Quotes
I forced myself to think what is the new concept and it became clear to me that it was risk, not only in technology and ecology, but in life and employment, too.
Beck, Ulrich. "The New World Disorder." Interview by Andrew Anthony. The Guardian, 30 Dec. 2007.
In this particular case Griffin was referring to manned space flight, but the principle is a general one. Risk can be managed and in many cases minimized, but can never be eliminated completely unless virtually all activity ceases.
He was referring to projects like the ObamaCare website. This was then only the most recent failure of a major IT government project. The IRS has for years been unsuccessful and developing a system for tax filing. And the Defense Department tried to develop a standardized programming language—ADA—that failed miserably despite all the pressure the government put on companies. Microsoft and Google rarely meet their own internal deadlines for development of a major innovative product, and that is typical as there is risk in many parts of a system and further risk as to whether they work together, and then whether they work with heavy use, etc.
Ulrich Beck was a well known German sociologist, and one of the most cited social scientists in the world during his lifetime. His work focused on questions of uncontrollability, ignorance and uncertainty in the modern age, and he coined the terms "risk society" and "second modernity" or "reflexive modernization". He also tried to overturn national perspectives that predominated in sociological investigations with a cosmopolitanism that acknowledges the interconnectedness of the modern world. He was a professor at the University of Munich and also held appointments at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH) in Paris, and at the London School of Economics.
