Problem understanding the meaning of this paragraph

Question

Another situation that requires attention to saturation in problem-solving occurs when data arrives only occasionally or in the presence of large amounts of distracting data. Radar inputs in t he military or in air traffic control are an example of this, as are irregularities in the operation of an airplane or ground vehicle that appear after a long period of normal behavior. The life of a professional pilot, for instance, has occasionally been decribed as years of tedium interspersed with seconds of terror. When the information resulting in this terror becomes available it is obviously extremely important that the pilot notice it as soon as possible. Fortunately for us passenger-types, a great amount of effort on the part of human-factors engineers, psychologists, and equipment designers goes into ensuring that the tedium will be suitably interrupted.

what is the meaning of the sentence in bold.

Thanks.

Ed_shaw · Accepted Answer

Unless I miss my guess, the phrase 'the tedium will be suitably interrupted' is causing the problem.
The use of 'suitably' may be an example of "choice of wrong word."

The writer is clearly quite knowledgeable in his or her field and quite a good writer. This caused me to suspect that maybe we readers simply are not smart enough to follow the thinking. But, no, my final opinion is the sentence is flawed.

A parent may go to some lengths to see that his or her children are "suitably attired" for school; that is, "dressed right." Suitable, in this example, lives up to it's definition of "adapted to a use or purpose," or "satisfying propriety" ( proper form).
Is it possible to report an interruption of operations (an emergency) in a suitable manner?
It might be argued that some ways of reporting a problem are better than others. Think of a
panic-stricken caller on a police emergency line.

Aren't we really trying to minimize the hazards of these interruptions rather than to make them appropriate? One thing we do know is that the problems being addressed are infrequent data and
the presence of distracting data.

The writer might argue that what he meant to say was "...great amount of effort on the part of engineers, psychologists, and equipment designers goes into minimizing the distraction caused by either too little or too much data during an interruption of normal operations."

No, a "suitable interruption of tedium," quite simply, leaves a little too much room for interpretation.

Problem understanding the meaning of this paragraph

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions