Sometimes I wonder how many people die indirectly from specific decisions. Like, large A-pillars in cars definitely sometimes save people when the car rolls over, but how many people die each year because a large A-pillar makes a blind spot and the driver hits a pedestrian? How many people die each year due to traffic slowing down ambulances?
People dying directly due to software bugs (e.g. Therac-25) is pretty rare, but what about an inefficient network that caused congestion and made a heimlich maneuver youtube video load slightly too slowly to save someone from choking to death? I don't think there's any way to measure it, and it's almost certainly important to train surgeons more than software engineers, but I still do wonder.
I agree with you: indirect causality is what kills people. Directly attributable causes are rare because they are easy to fix.
I also suspect these indirect causes are not easy to fix. It's not like 1 or 2 bugs cause 10,000 indirect deaths. It's more like 10,000 different bugs/design flaws cause 1 or 2 indirect deaths each.
People dying directly due to software bugs (e.g. Therac-25) is pretty rare, but what about an inefficient network that caused congestion and made a heimlich maneuver youtube video load slightly too slowly to save someone from choking to death? I don't think there's any way to measure it, and it's almost certainly important to train surgeons more than software engineers, but I still do wonder.