If I get on a Boeing aircraft, I am indeed engaging in an act of faith: that it was built properly, maintained well, and all the rest.
When that faith is violated, say by the control systems having the RANDOMLY_FALL_OUT_OF_THE_SKY flag set to “true”, then society engages in faith-restoring rituals: grounds the aircraft, leads an inquiry, does a recall, that sort of thing.
What you are seeing here is what happens when a large chunk of the population has lost faith in, and thus no longer trusts, its institutions.
Yes it's the human element that makes it a faith act. I have no doubts about the physics. The airplane must fly, it's not a matter of faith. But was it built properly, by qualified workers, has it been maintained properly with no shortcuts taken, are there any design flaws not yet discovered, and is it being operated by qualified, sober, healthy pilots?
If I get on a Boeing aircraft, I am indeed engaging in an act of faith: that it was built properly, maintained well, and all the rest.
When that faith is violated, say by the control systems having the RANDOMLY_FALL_OUT_OF_THE_SKY flag set to “true”, then society engages in faith-restoring rituals: grounds the aircraft, leads an inquiry, does a recall, that sort of thing.
What you are seeing here is what happens when a large chunk of the population has lost faith in, and thus no longer trusts, its institutions.