The Universe is Hostile to Computers

A Huge thanks to Dr Leif Scheick, Calla Cofield and the JPL Media Relations Team.

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References:

Toward Monitoring Fault-Tolerant Embedded

Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Paul Peijzel, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Sam Lutfi, MJP, Gnare, Nick DiCandilo, Dave Kircher, Edward Larsen, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Dumky, Mike Tung, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Ismail Öncü Usta, Paul Peijzel, Crated Comments, Anna, Mac Malkawi, Michael Schneider, Oleksii Leonov, Jim Osmun, Tyson McDowell, Ludovic Robillard, Jim buckmaster, fanime96, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Robert Blum, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Vincent, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Alfred Wallace, Arjun Chakroborty, Joar Wandborg, Clayton Greenwell, Pindex, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal

Written by Derek Muller and Petr Lebedev
Animation by Ivy Tello, Mike Radjabov, Fabio Albertelli, Jakub Misiek and Charlie Davies
SFX by Shaun Clifford
Filmed by Derek Muller, Raquel Nuno, and Emily Zhang
Edited by Derek Muller and Petr Lebedev
SFX by Shaun Clifford
Additional video supplied by Getty Images
Rover Footage From NASA/JPL-Caltech
Music from Epidemic Sound
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev and Emily Zhang

[AntsCanada]

Ok but how do we get one of those charged particles to flip a 0 in our bank accounts so we can get an extra million $$$$ by mistake? Asking for a friend.

[martinstiles]

Me, a software engineer, encountering a bug after watching this video: "yeah that must be the cosmic radiation again, definitely no errors in my code for sure"

[stephenwong]

Billion year old particle: "what is my purpose"
Universe: "you help people jump higher in mario"

[MOfTheNorth]

Imagine being a particle shooting through space for billions of years only to help someone beat a level of Mario.

[kalebbruwer]

"How did you win?"
"I guess the stars just aligned"

[SheetMusicBoss]

"Sir, why were you going over the speed limit?"
"Uhhhh... Cosmic particles?"

[sabersin]

It's a little comforting knowing that if there was ever a robot uprising, the universe would be there to protect us.

[debanjanbhattacharjee]

Finally a legitimate reason for my alarm clock not going off

[oath_]

Imagine having a bad run and then the universe is like: “I gotchu bro”

[MrScientific]

I hope the bit flips on the bank server where my account balance data is stored.

[stefanmilinkovic]

Bro. The amount of knowledge that is out there that we don’t even know about is crazy. I never knew something like this even existed/ considered it. I’m a software engineer and work with computer hardware, never knew this was a thing

[Morphinwithyou]

As a computer engineer, this is an amazing collection of scientific explanations and history on this issue.

[timmalcrov]

So Cyberpunk isnt "buggy", its just "cosmically attuned"

[elephantheart]

So the universe itself casted its 4, 096 votes, and we just discounted them? sheesh

[arcane]

Just want to say that I absolutely love this channel, after getting out of school and feeling like questions I've had as a kid get shut down all the time amongst other things. Your videos rekindle my fascination with all things science, not only that but you're able to break down and explain some wildly complicated things that most people wouldn't even begin to understand. Just goes to show how much effort you put into research and understanding, as well as talking to field professionals & experts. It doesn't go unnoticed and I hope you never stop making these.
Thank you Derek!

[whoozie]

4096 is such a normal number, there's nothing to be suspicious about

[JCW]

"Computers work precisely because bits don't flip unless we want them to. Or do they?"

Cue Vsauce music.

[pflolssa]

Maria's next campaign slogan: "even the universe wants me to win"

[atti]

Hearing the music slowly fading in, the same song that you've been using for like 10 yrs now feels like home when i watch your videos. thank you!

[mikemio]

One of the most interesting docs I've seen in a while. Keep up the good work.