hajovontahajovonta@mastodon.online
Oct 21, 2026, 9:55 PM@ericschutte
Software is not reliable even today, it never was. We just decided to ignore this fact and built a house of cards on top of quicksand.
Ignorance is bliss.
Replies
ohirohir@vivaldi.netOct 21, 2026, 11:10 PM
Oct 22, 2026, 3:00 AM@hajovonta @ericschutte @ohir @hembrow Software, like all engineering and infrastructure, involves a series of cost and technical trade-offs. That doesn’t mean it’s quicksand.
AI-automated flaw finding and exploit-making has shifted the trade-off equilibrium, but we will adjust to account for it.
- hajovontahajovonta@mastodon.onlineOct 22, 2026, 6:12 AM
@drahardja
That one, I agree. Also if you noticed we are talking about "software" in general but there is a huge spread in quality even with human generated code, and even the best quality is imperfect.Somebody mentioned formal methods but those are not applicable in general practice because of finite computing and storage resources.
- Oct 22, 2026, 6:19 AM
@hajovonta @ericschutte @ohir @hembrow Most software are “good enough” because that’s all they need to be. Again, it’s trade-offs. Writing software with formal methods doesn’t always make for pleasant UX or a useful product, and can in fact get in the way of writing interesting and beneficial software.
A lot of the Internet’s infrastructure isn’t well-designed against malicious adversaries. Email is notoriously bad at keeping out bad actors. The net counts on a lot of people and automated systems to keep bad actors away. But that doesn’t mean it’s useless despite its flaws.