Radiation from space that led to more than 6,000 Airbus aircraft needing emergency computer updates could become a growing problem.
  • Diplomjodler@lemmy.worldEnglish
    99·
    3 months ago

    …disrupt tiny bits of data stored in the computer’s memory, switching that bit – often represented as a 0 or 1 – from one state to another.

    Top notch science journalism there.

      • phutatorius@lemmy.zipEnglish
        13·
        3 months ago

        And, if the top levels of the BBC weren’t staffed with time-serving Conservative Party appointees who spend all their time interfering in politics, they could get their journalists to fact-check their articles by asking someone who knows what the fuck they’re talking about.

          • Diplomjodler@lemmy.worldEnglish
            117·
            3 months ago

            A bit isn’t represented by a one or a zero, that’s nonsense. A bit can take the state of a one or a zero and is represented in various ways in digital circuitry.

              • phutatorius@lemmy.zipEnglish
                15·
                3 months ago

                those states are represented by binary numbers.

                The states represent binary numbers, not the other way around.

                https://www.britannica.com/technology/bit-communications

                A bit is a binary digit. That’s what “bit” is an abbreviation for. That is, it’s either a 1 or a 0. It’s a logical thing, not a physical thing. It’s a unit of information.

                The embodiment of that bit is the physical state of a certain tiny, addressable chunk of silicon. And there could be any of several other embodiments: the position of toggle switches, chalk marks on a board, pits on a metallic surface in a DVD, voltage in a wire at a particular time. The particular embodiment is an engineering choice that is distinct from the information itself.