"[E]very point at which a computer program stops to decide something ... is a ticket to deterministic chaos." #readingToday

The lesson that I see in these studies is that every decision, every point at which a computer program stops to decide something, based on information from an outside source, leads to a branching or bifurcation in the space of possible states the program might go on to visit. It is a ticket to deterministic chaos. Each decision increases its fundamental complexity, from the point of view of 'bugs' and unexpected behaviour. For those of us who come to rely on these systems, this is not good news.

The Search for Certainty, Mark Burgess, 2013