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> Contrast that to programming. A single "<" instead of "<=" could be the difference between totally fine and billions of dollars of damages.

I fail to see the difference between a misplaced operator and a misplaced bolt (think Hyatt walkway collapse), both of which could have catastrophic consequences. Do you think the CAD software they use to perform the calculations is allowed have bugs simply because it's software?

Maybe go back to entering code on punch cards if you're so fixated on the physical domain being the problem.



There's a reason we talk about the Hyatt walkway collapse but not the misplaced operator.


It could happen. People have been predicting it for years, and many think that it is only a matter of time. For a vision from 1982 of how it could happen, see: <https://books.google.com/books?id=6f8VqnZaPQwC&pg=PA167>

Consider the following scenario. We are living in 1997, and the world of office automation has finally arrived. Powerful computers that would have filled a room in 1980 now fit neatly in the bottom of drawer of every executive’s desk, which is nothing more than heavy glass plate covering an array of keyboards, screens, and color displays.

— The Network Revolution: Confessions of a Computer Scientist; Jacques Vallee, 1982




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