[SIGCIS-Members] the nature of computational error

[Paul N. Edwards]

Rounding error is ubiquitous and unavoidable in digital computers, but with high precision computing (64-bit, 128-bit) it’s so small as to be negligible.

However, in cases where the same computation is performed many thousands or millions of times, it can still accumulate to a point that it’s significant.

MacKenzie, D. (1993). Negotiating Arithmetic, Constructing Proof: The Sociology of Mathematics and Information Technology. Social Studies of Science, 23(1), 37-65.

Also see the short examples of this in my book A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming (MIT Press, 2010), pages 177-178.

Best,

Paul



On Jul 3, 2020, at 10:54, Matthew Kirschenbaum <mkirschenbaum at gmail.com<mailto:mkirschenbaum at gmail.com>> wrote:

Hello all,

I am interested in a better understanding of the nature of computational error. My sense is that actual, literal (mathematical) mistakes in modern computers are quite rare; the notorious Pentium bug of the early 1990s is the exception that proves the rule. Most bugs are, rather, code proceeding to a perfectly correct logical outcome that just so happens to be inimical or intractable to the user and/or other dependent elements of the system. The Y2K "bug," for instance, was actually code executing in ways that were entirely internally self-consistent, however much havoc the code would wreak (or was expected to wreak).

Can anyone recommend reading that will help me formulate such thoughts with greater confidence and accuracy? Or serve as a corrective? I'd like to read something fundamental and even philosophical about, as my subject line has it, the nature of computational error. I'd also be interested in collecting other instances comparable to the Pentium bug--bugs that were actual flaws and mistakes hardwired at the deepest levels of a system.

Thank you-- Matt


--
Matthew Kirschenbaum
Professor of English and Digital Studies
Director, Graduate Certificate in Digital Studies
Printer's Devil, BookLab
University of Maryland
mgk at umd.edu<mailto:mgk at umd.edu>
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________________________
Paul N. Edwards<https://profiles.stanford.edu/paul-edwards>

Director, Program on Science, Technology & Society<http://sts.stanford.edu>
William J. Perry Fellow in International Security and Senior Research Scholar
Center for International Security and Cooperation<http://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/>
Co-Director, Stanford Existential Risks Initiative<https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/stanford-existential-risks-initiative>
Stanford University

Professor of Information<http://www.si.umich.edu/> and History<http://www.lsa.umich.edu/history/> (Emeritus)
University of Michigan

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