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   beatrix bitrot (bea@glitch.social)'s status on Saturday, 22-Feb-2025 10:56:40 JST beatrix bitrot

   ended up saying "bro PLEASE tell me you know about the Therac-25" out loud at work so i think i experienced at least one new emotion today

   • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Zimmie (bob_zim@infosec.exchange)'s status on Saturday, 22-Feb-2025 10:57:30 JST Zimmie

     in reply to

     • Sylvhem

     @Sylvhem @bea the THERAC-25 was a radiation therapy machine. Sloppy concurrency programming led to race conditions which allowed operator error to put the machine into a dangerous state. On earlier versions, hardware interlocks prevented it from firing in this state, but the hardware safeties were replaced with software to save money. Several people got massive overdoses, and a few died.

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     beatrix bitrot (bea@glitch.social)'s status on Saturday, 22-Feb-2025 10:57:30 JST beatrix bitrot

     in reply to

     • Sylvhem
     • Zimmie

     @bob_zim @Sylvhem yeah it is used as a case study when teaching about professional ethics in software development, maybe especially in Canada, since it was a Canadian machine? i actually have no idea how well known it is elsewhere.

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
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     Sylvhem (sylvhem@eldritch.cafe)'s status on Saturday, 22-Feb-2025 10:57:32 JST Sylvhem

     in reply to

     @bea I may surprise you, bud I don’t think I know about the Therac-25.

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     beatrix bitrot (bea@glitch.social)'s status on Saturday, 22-Feb-2025 10:58:11 JST beatrix bitrot

     in reply to

     can't believe my most boosted post is about software development of all things and i now regret my words and deeds

     so help me fix this situation by boosting this post instead:

     send me your favorite lesbian erotica! and don't hold back on the dank stuff! dm me if you don't want to post it publicly! i don't give a fuck! let's go!

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.