the.com/failsafe
designed so the disaster still happens, just in the safe direction.
means a mechanism that reverts to the least harmful state automatically when something goes wrong.
from from nuclear-era engineering and cold war military systems, formalized in 1950s aviation and reactor design where the goal was ensuring failure defaulted to safety, not catastrophe.
not foolproofassumes the failure mode, not every possible failure
deadman switcha common failsafe: let go, it stops
movie misuseoften confused with fail-deadly, its opposite
for instance
nuclear reactor scram — control rods drop by gravity if power cuts out
train dead man's switch — driver releases pressure, train brakes automatically
elevator brake system — cable snaps, mechanical brakes clamp the rails
fukushima daiichi 2011 — failsafes existed but the flood defeated them anyway