when you define things in terms of immutable structures, the worst thing that happens is you get an _old_ answer - but not an incorrect one. the old answer com

when you define things in terms of immutable structures, the worst thing that happens is you get an _old_ answer - but not an incorrect one. the old answer comes back with a timestamp: "this is the answer to your question, as of (time)" the CAP theorem means you either give _inconsistent_ answers (what is the state now? it's X) to two different nodes, or you sacrifice availability.