3 ms·

Because futher down the stack, more reliable a tech has to be. Otherwise good luck debugging. Also agree with heisenbit.

justinclift 9y ago
Hmmm... on that note, if the universe is a simulation, then a bug in that could have some interesting ramifications. "Don't use the bookshelf over there, physics is broken on that shiny spot." :D
- roywiggins 9y ago
  The problem with finding a physics bug is that it's liable to be amplifiable. Break conservation laws just a little bit and suddenly you have potential for exponential runaway leading to an unplanned reality excursion, and say goodbye to your light-cone.
  - justinclift 9y ago
    Well, by definition the behaviour would be undefined so could go any which way. ;) Modern day VM software has various levels of exception checking, and code to catch/mitigate/etc when bugs crop up. So, a universe-capable simulator might have any kind of behaviour if/when a bug occurs. It doesn't need to be an unbounded, runaway scenario. :)
    - rbanffy 9y ago
      And, if a very bad reality excursion happens, you scrap that branch and restore the last checkpoint. Nobody inside the simulation will ever remember it. You only bother fixing it if halt/scrap/restore becomes a burden. It probably happens more often than we imagine ;-)
- qubex 9y ago
  I don't know why you were downvoted. I find this hilarious and thought-provoking.
- wolfgke 9y ago
  > Hmmm... on that note, if the universe is a simulation, then a bug in that could have some interesting ramifications. > "Don't use the bookshelf over there, physics is broken on that shiny spot." :D You know "The Animatrix - Beyond"?
  - justinclift 9y ago
    Nope, just looked it up though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animatrix#.22Beyond.22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animatrix#.22Beyond.22 Seems like the same kind of concept. :)
- krylon 9y ago
  // FIXME Trying to read both the position and the momentum of a particle reliably crashes the simulation. // Workaround: Make the accessor method return fuzzy values for either of those values.

justinclift 9y ago

Hmmm... on that note, if the universe is a simulation, then a bug in that could have some interesting ramifications. "Don't use the bookshelf over there, physics is broken on that shiny spot." :D

roywiggins 9y ago
The problem with finding a physics bug is that it's liable to be amplifiable. Break conservation laws just a little bit and suddenly you have potential for exponential runaway leading to an unplanned reality excursion, and say goodbye to your light-cone.
- justinclift 9y ago
  Well, by definition the behaviour would be undefined so could go any which way. ;) Modern day VM software has various levels of exception checking, and code to catch/mitigate/etc when bugs crop up. So, a universe-capable simulator might have any kind of behaviour if/when a bug occurs. It doesn't need to be an unbounded, runaway scenario. :)
  - rbanffy 9y ago
    And, if a very bad reality excursion happens, you scrap that branch and restore the last checkpoint. Nobody inside the simulation will ever remember it. You only bother fixing it if halt/scrap/restore becomes a burden. It probably happens more often than we imagine ;-)
qubex 9y ago
I don't know why you were downvoted. I find this hilarious and thought-provoking.
wolfgke 9y ago
> Hmmm... on that note, if the universe is a simulation, then a bug in that could have some interesting ramifications. > "Don't use the bookshelf over there, physics is broken on that shiny spot." :D You know "The Animatrix - Beyond"?
- justinclift 9y ago
  Nope, just looked it up though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animatrix#.22Beyond.22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animatrix#.22Beyond.22 Seems like the same kind of concept. :)
krylon 9y ago
// FIXME Trying to read both the position and the momentum of a particle reliably crashes the simulation. // Workaround: Make the accessor method return fuzzy values for either of those values.