Chain of Failure: A Reminder about Logic

May 26, 2019

I spotted a reference to a blog post on Yodaiken. It’s title is “Von Neumann’s Critique of Automata Theory and Logic in Computer Science.” Do we live in a Von Neumann world? I was delighted to be reminded of the observations in this passage. Here’s the snippet I circled in yellow highlighter:

In a sufficiently long chain of operations the cumulative effect of these individual probabilities of failure may (if unchecked) reach the order of magnitude of unity-at which point it produces, in effect, complete unreliability.

Interesting. Perhaps failure is part of the DNA of smart software?

Stephen E Arnold, May 26, 2019

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