A companion resource
How one line of Python triggers 12,000 lines of code, and why the "deterministic vs probabilistic" debate misunderstands the entire history of computing.
print("Hello, World!")One line. Twenty-two characters. Seven layers. Twelve thousand lines of code.
Every layer of computing is an abstraction built on top of something messier. Python hides C. C hides assembly. Assembly hides machine code. Machine code hides transistors. Transistors hide electrons.
And electrons are probabilistic.
The entire "deterministic" computing stack is engineered on top of quantum uncertainty. Every layer started unreliable. Every layer became reliable through architecture, error handling, and redundancy.
AI is following the same pattern. It is just the newest layer.
Walk through all seven layers between your Python code and the hardware. Interactive code examples at each level.
Explore layers →From the Jacquard loom in 1804 to Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and the Pentium. The timeline of abstraction.
See timeline →Moths in relays. Missing lookup values. Cosmic ray bit flips. Every layer has a failure story and an engineering response.
Read stories →Why the "AI is probabilistic" critique misses the bigger picture. The electron argument and the history of engineering reliability.
Read argument →"The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves."
Ada Lovelace, 1843