shakeel
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shakeelm.bsky.social
shakeel
@shakeelm.bsky.social
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Software Architect
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Reposted by shakeel
righto.com
The NYT published a bizarre religious article on the Pentium division bug exactly 30 years ago today: "Pentium and Our Crisis of Faith." It argued that you need to have faith in a computer's results, so the Pentium bug was like Martin Luther's Protestant revolt.

www.nytimes.com/1994/12/28/o...
On the eve of the 21st century, what basis do we have for knowing if anything on our computer screens is really error-free? The complexity of today's machines is far beyond our ability to check them by hand. All the fine points are floating; the only orthodox solution is to have more faith. We must accept on faith that our telephone bills are absolutely error-free just as we must accept the integrity inside a microprocessor (even a free replacement chip). Absolute truth is a software issue, a sliver of silicon surrounded by a sea of the faithful, their arms outstretched, waiting for instructions from a ROM (read only memory). It can be read but not changed, just like the Bible, humanity's original ROM. The unsullied clarity of being sure beyond doubt that the solution to my physics problems were correct is a feeling from the days when I could still double-check my calculator; it has been replaced by doubt and powerlessness. The capacity to believe in absolute truth is a priceless gift we can value now that we have worked so hard to lose it. We stare into a laptop, like Adam and Eve, trying to find a way back to the garden and hoping we can still run Windows if we get there. Perhaps the error is not with the Pentium chip.
December 29, 2024 at 1:43 AM
Reposted by shakeel
simonwillison.net
This intro video is absolutely fantastic, one of the best project overview videos of this kind I've seen anywhere bsky.app/profile/nicb...
December 21, 2024 at 11:15 PM