<div dir="ltr">If you are interested in the human side of the discussion of error, I'd suggest taking a look at chapter 4 of Otte and <span style="color:rgb(33,37,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,"Segoe UI",Roboto,"Helvetica Neue",Arial,sans-serif,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji","Segoe UI Symbol"">Mlynarczyk</span>'s 2010 book on <a href="https://wac.colostate.edu/books/referenceguides/basicwriting/">Basic Writing</a> and Stuart Moultrhop's essay "Error 1337" in the collection edited by Mark Nunes entitled "<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=tvGoAwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=nunes+error&source=gbs_navlinks_s">Error: Glitch, Noise, and Jam in New Media</a>" (Bloomsbury, 2010). For a 19th c. perspective, you might want to take a look at Kuno Fischer's chapter on "The Origin of Error" in his <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JmANAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA360&dq=error+and+philosophy&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjL7LDXjLTqAhVLg3IEHRNiAwsQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=snippet&q=error%20&f=false">History of Modern Philosophy</a> (<span style="color:rgb(32,33,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px">1854–77; the link is to an 1887 English translation). </span><div><span style="color:rgb(32,33,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br></span></div><div><span style="color:rgb(32,33,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px">All best,</span></div><div><span style="color:rgb(32,33,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br></span></div><div><span style="color:rgb(32,33,34);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px">Johannah</span></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 10:04 AM Richard Vahrenkamp <<a href="mailto:vahrenkamp2@gmx.de">vahrenkamp2@gmx.de</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p>Although physicists often use rules of thumb, the precision of
calculation became an important point in John von Neumann's policy
against the analogue computer. The precision of individual
calculations on analog machines is lower than on digital machines.
But the final results of integrating a differential equation were
the same on analog machines as on digital ones, as comparisons in
the 1950s showed, see my paper The Computing Boom in the US
Aeronautical Industry, 1945–1965, in: ICON – The Journal of the
International Committee for the History of Technology, volume 24,
2019, pp. 127–149.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Best, Richard<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div>On 03.07.2020 22:18, Paul N. Edwards
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>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 <<a href="mailto:mkirschenbaum@gmail.com" target="_blank">mkirschenbaum@gmail.com</a><a href="mailto:mkirschenbaum@gmail.com" target="_blank"><mailto:mkirschenbaum@gmail.com></a>> 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
<a href="mailto:mgk@umd.edu" target="_blank">mgk@umd.edu</a><a href="mailto:mgk@umd.edu" target="_blank"><mailto:mgk@umd.edu></a>
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Paul N. Edwards<a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/paul-edwards" target="_blank"><https://profiles.stanford.edu/paul-edwards></a>
Director, Program on Science, Technology & Society<a href="http://sts.stanford.edu" target="_blank"><http://sts.stanford.edu></a>
William J. Perry Fellow in International Security and Senior Research Scholar
Center for International Security and Cooperation<a href="http://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/" target="_blank"><http://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/></a>
Co-Director, Stanford Existential Risks Initiative<a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/stanford-existential-risks-initiative" target="_blank"><https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/stanford-existential-risks-initiative></a>
Stanford University
Professor of Information<a href="http://www.si.umich.edu/" target="_blank"><http://www.si.umich.edu/></a> and History<a href="http://www.lsa.umich.edu/history/" target="_blank"><http://www.lsa.umich.edu/history/></a> (Emeritus)
University of Michigan
</pre>
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</blockquote>
<pre cols="72">--
********************************************
Prof. Dr. Richard Vahrenkamp
Logistik Consulting Berlin
Phone 0177- 628 3325
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:Vahrenkamp2016@gmx.de" target="_blank">Vahrenkamp2016@gmx.de</a>
Web: <a href="http://www.vahrenkamp.org" target="_blank">www.vahrenkamp.org</a>
Trendelenburgstr. 16
14057 Berlin
*********************************************</pre>
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This email is relayed from members at <a href="http://sigcis.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org</a></blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><a href="mailto:johannahrodgers@gmail.com" target="_blank">johannahrodgers@gmail.com</a><br></div><div><a href="http://www.johannahrodgers.net" target="_blank">www.johannahrodgers.net</a></div><br></div></div></div></div>