Folks,
I had hoped that my explanation of and plea for professional behavior this morning might have changed the substance of the discussion.
Those of us who want to have a technical discussion here have a problem, or rather a series of them. Let me enumerate a few.
First, I told our abusive young friend this morning that if he was a member of a professional society his behavior would contravene the norms of that society. He claimed he wasn't doing that - and then did exactly that again a number of hours later.
First conclusion: he has no clue what to do when a professional clearly states he has a problem with certain exchanges, and why.
Second, our friend doesn't discuss. He contradicts, mimics, repeats himself, but doesn't enter anything any of us would regard as a serious attempt to sort out the issues.
Second conclusion: he doesn't know what a technical discussion is or how to engage in one.
Third, our friend cites data, but doesn't know what a confounding factor is.
Third conclusion: he has never taken an elementary course in data analysis.
Fourth, in response to a request to solve a decision problem,
he repeats "follow the RA!"
Fourth conclusion: he has no idea what a decision problem is, or what a solution to a decision problem looks like.
Fifth, TCAS is a procedural system, based on information and algorithms. The decision problem presented to the human operator by the TCAS information subsystem is an essential part of the TCAS system. Enumerating solutions to that decision problem is part of the technical analysis of TCAS. "Decision problem" here is a technical term with a well-defined meaning. Our friend claims that the possible solution to the decision problem which my analysis has brought to light is "irresponsible".
Fifth conclusion: our friend has little understanding of the analysis of algorithms, and little grasp of the appropiate concepts for analysing them. He is using a perjorative term to describe a technical fact. This is comparable with someone, say, calling the number 5 "perverse".
Sixth, he doesn't argue his case; he simply repeats it.
Sixth conclusion: if we continue to answer as we have been, this discussion will go nowhere.
It is this sixth conclusion to which I wish to draw particular attention.
PBL