Does Murphy's law refer to self-contradiction in systems ?

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Question:

A system, certainly a safety-critical system, would be "brought up one function at a time"!.

Descartes would recommend he "carry out such complete and frequent reviews that he was certain to have left nothing out"!. This was Descartes' rule of synthesis!.

Yet Murphy's law tells us we'll be running with incorrect versions of programs and algorithms, that out test cases will begin to stop working, etc etc!.

I'm not denying Murphy's law at all!. But Murphy's law seems to refer to self-contradiction in systems

Far from frequent reviews ensuring success, Murphy's law seems to tell us that everything may go to custard on the last day of development test and evaluation!.

ref: Johnston, A brief history of philosophy, Continuum, 2006, p75Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Eeeeeeeee! Supe!. Lighten up!. Murphy's Law is no more than a light hearted look as to why things sometimes go awry!. Comparing Descartes to Murphy's Law is like comparing World War 2 to my neighbors complaining about the dog barking!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Murphy's law is most often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way")!. The saying is sometimes referred to as Sod's law or Finagle's law!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yep, it applies to EVERYTHING!. You could throw in a little chaos Theory while you're at it!. "The more complex and intricate a system, the more opportunity for problems!."Www@QuestionHome@Com

Murphy's law merely says that systems are often very unstable and things will go wrong with them unless they are very tightly designed!. It also implies that it is impossible to design a completely foolproof system!.

Harleigh Kyson Jr!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Murphy is all-pervasive! Intrusion into Descartes, also included! But, it is not self contradiction, Murphy is selfless, more or less!Www@QuestionHome@Com