But then, do you really want to build a binary transmitter that is prepared to handle not only sequences of 0 and 1, but also the occasional “zebrafish” and “Thursday” (imagine somehow fitting these into an electrical signal, or don’t, because the whole point is that it can’t be done)? Such a transmitter has enormously increased complexity to handle signals that, well… won’t ever happen. I guess you could say the probability is low enough that the expected utility of dealing with it is not worth it. But what about the chance that a “zebrafish” in the launch codes will wipe out humanity? Surely that expected utility cannot be ignored? (Except it can!)
Umm, it’s a real thing. ECC memory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECC_memory
I’m sure it isn’t 100% foolproof (coincidentally the point of this article) but I imagine it reduces error probability by orders of magnitude.
But then, do you really want to build a binary transmitter that is prepared to handle not only sequences of 0 and 1, but also the occasional “zebrafish” and “Thursday” (imagine somehow fitting these into an electrical signal, or don’t, because the whole point is that it can’t be done)? Such a transmitter has enormously increased complexity to handle signals that, well… won’t ever happen. I guess you could say the probability is low enough that the expected utility of dealing with it is not worth it. But what about the chance that a “zebrafish” in the launch codes will wipe out humanity? Surely that expected utility cannot be ignored? (Except it can!)
Umm, it’s a real thing. ECC memory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECC_memory I’m sure it isn’t 100% foolproof (coincidentally the point of this article) but I imagine it reduces error probability by orders of magnitude.