Ambient Dependability

This paper tries, on one side, to raise awareness on the level of complexity of future computer-based interconnected systems/infrastructures, at least as they are envisioned, and, on the other side, on the level of dependability we are today able to justify with confidence. This paper does not provide solutions, but tries to motivate that fundamental methods and methodologies must be reconsidered, studied, exploited, assessed and applied to move towards what can be called “ambient dependability”, a global view of the concept of dependability [1], which encompasses not only the technological aspects but includes inter and multi disciplinary fields, which span over ergonomics, usability, education, sociology, law and government, and convince a large audience that investing in it constitutes a very strategic Grand Challenge.