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Everest & PS

Tom Geraghty · Stories & Cases, Power, Safety & Human Error

Uses the 1996 Everest disaster — documented in Krakauer's Into Thin Air — as a case study in hierarchical deference, production pressure, and the silencing of dissent. Shows how the commitment to summit (plan continuation bias) overrode the signals from those who knew it was wrong.

Connected concepts (5)

• Local Rationality
• Normalisation of Deviance (Challenger)
• The Vasa Disaster
• Lessons from Everest: The Interaction of Cognitive Bias, Psychological Safety, and System Complexity (paper)
• Plan Continuation Bias