> learn a little bit about bit narrow the tolerances of modern cars and bridges are

Buildings typically use a safety factor of 1.5 to 2.0, and cars typically use a safety factor of 2.0 to 3.0. These things are being built twice as strong as they need to be. I wouldn't call that narrow.

And with software, we're at a point where it can't even properly do what it needs to. If we were overbuilding it, damn software wouldn't crash so much.

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scheme271 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I think all engineering has safety factors of 2 or more. Maybe with the exception of aerospace (mostly space) where materials might be at the limits of what's possible right now so the safety factors are much reduced.

	▲	fooker 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> I think all engineering has safety factors of 2 or more. Not even close. For example, a BMW X5 weighs about 2200 Kgs without passengers, and it's GVWR is 2800 Kgs. If you have five people and heavy bags, you can comfortably exceed the GVWR. You can absolutely break control arms and suspension components in that scenario if you go over a speed bump or hit a pothole (which are real things that exist in the real world, like people doing something unintended and crashing software). If this needed a 2x safety factor, there would have been no way to build this car. Even the toughest cars like land cruisers are limited in this way.