Does anybody remember?

[blume357]

"Computers don't make mistakes"
I remember growing up in the 60's and probably the early 70's it seems this was a common saying.... boy did things change!
Here is the latest.... yesterday morning : Thursday September 11th I ordered some ammo from Georgia Arms and they actually packed it and shipped it UPS yesterday and I got a notice right after completing the order it would be delivered today... Friday September the 12th which is pretty dern good.
This morning I get up and check my emails and I get one from UPS saying the estimated delivery date has changed....uh oh! I think, then I look at the new estimated date... and I look again... and again.... I'm still baffled.. you can't make this stuff up... the date is September 10th, which is the day before I ordered anything... and two days ago....

 

[bedfordboy]

They must be driving backwards to get there before they left…

 

[coachk64]

Quick, do a UPS loss claim and get them to replace the items.

 

[Dan in MI]

I worked with computers too much to even think that phrase is relevant.

 

[needsmostuff]

Nah, the computer is fine.
You're a victim of another old saying.
GIGO.

 

[Yaworski]

Nah, the computer is fine.
You're a victim of another old saying.
GIGO.

Beat me to it. Someplace, somewhere a human screwed up.

 

[s4s4u]

Wish I could back up the clock like that....

 

[Jeepnik]

If you recall, in 1968 HAL bragged about his perfect record then proceeded to kill all five crew members of Jupiter I.

 

[gnappi]

Computers do not make mistakes they do what they're programmed to do, programmers make the mistakes.

 

[Dan in MI]

Computers do not make mistakes they do what they're programmed to do, programmers make the mistakes.

That's where we differ.

In my job we had scripts to run a cold start. Same script, same computer, same car. All you had to do was click "run" on the script, wait for a "go" button to light up. Once lit you start the car, yet quit often the whole mess would lock up and require completely starting over after ruining a test.

 

[gnappi]

That's where we differ.

In my job we had scripts to run a cold start. Same script, same computer, same car. All you had to do was click "run" on the script, wait for a "go" button to light up. Once lit you start the car, yet quit often the whole mess would lock up and require completely starting over after ruining a test.

Nope, given that EVERY single part in the system is EXACTLY the same and the reference clocks and timings are spot on (no "tolerance stacking" between active devices) code always, ALWAYS executes EXACTLY the way the coder wrote it. There are other variables like signal cross talk due to improper shielding or wire / loom issues but again it's NOT the fault of the code.

Computers in cars are "state machines" and the only variables are the electronics that make them run, they do not arbitrarily decide to run a line of code or not.

 

[Kevin]

Nah, the computer is fine.
You're a victim of another old saying.
GIGO.

As soon as Blume said computers don’t make mistakes, I thought of the Garbage In phrase.

I love telling company’s service representatives they aren’t as smart as the computer when then can’t help me. I get it a lot, that they can’t change an address, or they can’t update something or other. It’s boarder line crazy!

 

[M118LR]

Did you say DeLorean Delivery?

 

[needsmostuff]

If you recall, in 1968 HAL bragged about his perfect record then proceeded to kill all five crew members of Jupiter I.

If you read or watched 2010 Hal was exonerated.
Basically Hal had been programed to put an end to whatever it perceived to be a jeopardy to the mission.
Yup , still a coding thing.

 

[Danjet500]

Did you say DeLorean Delivery?

Yep, 88 mph will get it there yesterday.

 

[Jeepnik]

If you read or watched 2010 Hal was exonerated.
Basically Hal had been programed to put an end to whatever it perceived to be a jeopardy to the mission.
Yup , still a coding thing.

Matter of fact I just this evening finished 2010. I hadn't recalled Helen Mirren being in the movie, although she was one of the leads. She spoke Russian so well, like a native speaker. Well, a quick google revealed she was born in Latvia, so it's her first language. And almost everyone things she's British born.

 

[ArizonaTea123]

About 20 years ago I ordered an ammo can filled with S&B 00 Buck 12 gauge from a company called "Sportsman's Guide"
It was delivered to my commercial PO Box and I got a call from the guy running the store. He said I had a very heavy package waiting for me.
I go to get my package and it was heavy as hell. I thought, "wow this is some heavy 12 gauge"

I get home and find a 50 Cal ammo can filled with belted 50 caliber Browing armor piercing black tip!
I call Sportsman's Guide to send it back and they say keep it! It's too heavy to send back.
A week later they sent me the 12 gauge 00 buck.
So I ended up with a full can of 50 BMG AP ammo. I sold it as I didn't own anything in that caliber.

 

[blume357]

Dern Arizona, you know what you were supposed to do was buy a gun for the ammo.
the good news on my end is the Ammo from Georgia Arms did come in yesterday when it was first projected to arrive... actually before the time window given and not on Wednesday ... which would have meant not only before I ordered it but that it was no longer here...... got something to do with the space time contenuem... which I've never tried to understand.... other that there is a level that is instant and not confined to the speed of light ... what happens here actually effects everything in the universe and vise a versa....Einstein actually was working on it.

 

[Mobuck]

I've ordered John Deere parts that shipped from India (FYI, lots of parts for JD utility tractors are made in India) and were scanned through a US location earlier than the original shipping time. Crossing the international date line had some effect???

 

[wproct]

One of my worst memories when I was still working was in 1999 and Y2K was an end of the world doom day as far as computers were concerned. They said nothing was designed to go into the year 2000. Everyone had to think up work arounds in case the computers just locked up. We had to do all kinds of testing each scenario as IT was making all of their adjustments etc. We put tons of work into it and then when event actually happened it was just like nothing ever happened, just a non-event.

 

[ArizonaTea123]

I remember Y2K. Everybody went out and bought generators, water barrels, survival food.
It was insane.

 

[protoolman]

Nah, the computer is fine.
You're a victim of another old saying.
GIGO.

Yup the operator fat fingered his keyboard. The computer didn't make a mistake. If the computer malfunctioned the estimated delivery date would be '$#X/lffffffff#...*2:'5mmb;;;

 

[Jim Walsh]

Perhaps someone took the advice “learn to code” literally but should have considered the source of the advice…

 

[gnappi]

About 20 years ago I ordered an ammo can filled with S&B 00 Buck 12 gauge from a company called "Sportsman's Guide"
It was delivered to my commercial PO Box and I got a call from the guy running the store. He said I had a very heavy package waiting for me.
I go to get my package and it was heavy as hell. I thought, "wow this is some heavy 12 gauge"

I get home and find a 50 Cal ammo can filled with belted 50 caliber Browing armor piercing black tip!
I call Sportsman's Guide to send it back and they say keep it! It's too heavy to send back.
A week later they sent me the 12 gauge 00 buck.
So I ended up with a full can of 50 BMG AP ammo. I sold it as I didn't own anything in that caliber.

If that had happened to me I would have been scouting out a Barrett!

 

[MaxMan]

Computers do not make mistakes they do what they're programmed to do, programmers make the mistakes.

Until Now,Gnappi.

 

[gnappi]

Until Now,Gnappi.

???

 

[blume357]

So they don't make mistakes... so since the USPS uses these scanning devises that look at bar codes now to sort and direct your mail and packages to different terminals... tell me how a package a guy shipped me from New Jersey last year went back and forth between two terminals Nj to Ny and reverse... for a month? I thought for sure when I finally got it it after we called a search for it that it would have a new bar code label pasted over the original... nope... package was all original with the original bar code.

 

[gnappi]

Employees "can" deliberately send packages to the wrong spot when physically handled. There are likely many dozens of places where routing can be wrong due to mechanical processes. I have a package that went missing in July and so far it's never been found.

The bottom line is when humans or electro-mechanical devices are in the loop, mistakes happen. A bar code scanner could get a piece of lint or smear on the optical sensor glass, a package can be presented at an oblique angle to the reader it's endless.

Believe what you like but the decision making process of computers given certain variables are met If they get it right once, they'll get it right 100% of the time.

 

[NC FNS]

You’re gonna love AI. Work is encouraging us to train it to do our jobs (or it seems that way). It’s not always correct, but will come across like that know-it-all in high school, even when wrong. If you call it out for a mistake, it will make corrections but not clearly admit that it was wrong in many cases.

 

[blume357]

What I could not figure out about the package going back and forth between two postal terminals (you could go online and see it) was why does not the automated system have a way to red flag something like this... I'm not a programer but then a package or even a letter goes back to where it came from and then back and forth say a time or two should be a simple for the most basic computer program to see.

To get a little philosophical and verge on religious.... I was sitting in my back yard a few weeks ago drinking a beer and smoking a cigar and thinking about life and the progress of humanity and such and looked down and this very small beetle was making its way along the arm of my chair and I realized that even with all our high tech and advancements with A.I. we are a long ways away from being able if ever to create something like this little insect.