Thursday, it seemed as if the machines took over on Wall Street, where automated trading and a possible trader's error sent the collective stock market into a tailspin never seen before.

NEW YORK (AP) — A computerized selloff possibly caused by a simple typographical error triggered one of the most turbulent days in Wall Street history Thursday and sent the Dow Jones industrials to a loss of almost 1,000 points, nearly a tenth of their value, in less than half an hour. It was the biggest drop ever during a trading day.

Wall St. rollercoaster: Stocks fall nearly 10 pct – Yahoo! Finance

Supposedly, government regulators are looking into the issue. However, might this be another financial reform that ought to be looked into a little more closely? Is this type of automated trading a good thing, overall, for the market?

I think not.