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> meant I'm sure as hell not inventing something new if it sets me up for civil liabilities.

And I'm arguing that not doing so might be a good thing. I shudder to think how we'd be off if other infrastructure disciplines took the same approach we take to develop software.

If you build something that people use in important infrastructure, prepare to be on the hook if it fails.

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So if you write some toy PID controller for your kids LEGO project and post it to stack overflow, should you be held liable for all the places it is used?

I don't think a person should be held liable in this case because the solution was clearly labeled as a toy, and not as a serious solution.

If this person presented it as a real solution, however, then yes I believe he should be held liable, as much as a lawyer would be for recklessly giving out legal advice.

In either case, The developer who built upon the solution without validating it or verifying its correctness should bear most of the blame, regardless of how the answer was given.

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