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Failure Mode

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Current version: v1

  1. Version 1Current

    Initial publication

    Initial publication on how the phrase failure mode turns repeated mistakes into evidence about design while also creating a possible escape from personal responsibility.

    1,278 words1 section3 images

    August 16, 2026

    Kris Haamer

    Visuals in the initial version

    One person is blamed for pushing the wrong way while a stream of people reveals that the door itself is producing the same mistake.

    One person is blamed for pushing the wrong way while a stream of people reveals that the door itself is producing the same mistake.

    A repeated mistake becomes evidence about the design.

    /blog/failure-mode/door.svg

    Several minutes of speech enter a system with no local safety net and disappear at the first broken connection.

    Several minutes of speech enter a system with no local safety net and disappear at the first broken connection.

    The error appears at the end, but the failure was designed much earlier.

    /blog/failure-mode/buffer.svg

    A human and an AI system exchange labels until the machine fails like a person and the person explains themselves like a machine.

    A human and an AI system exchange labels until the machine fails like a person and the person explains themselves like a machine.

    Machines are becoming more human in how they fail while people become more computational in how they explain themselves.

    /blog/failure-mode/crossover.svg

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