Integrating critical infrastructure systems more and more tightly by making them all digital and dependent on digital infrastructure increases the risk of catastrophic failure cascades. The risk profile has a phase transition with respect to increasing interconnectivity that, once crossed, makes such failure cascades comparatively highly likely.
The effect is not unlike nuclear fission reactions, which require a certain density of fissile material before they'll be self-sustaining. An event that'd just sputter out at one density might become an out-of-control explosion at a slightly higher density. Likewise, what might be a small and isolated component fault at one level of connectivity could be a catastrophic cascading critical infrastructure failure at a slightly higher level of connectivity.
The possibility of cascading failures in the nuclear power system seems like something we should be putting considerable resources into avoiding, rather than actively courting.
In response to ‘Atoms for Algorithms:’ The Trump Administration’s Top Nuclear Scientists Think AI Can Replace Humans in Power Plants at 404 Media.
#IAEA #NuclearEnergy #AtomicEnergy #USEnergy #USDOE #nuclear #energy #AI #CriticalInfrastructure #FailureCascade
The effect is not unlike nuclear fission reactions, which require a certain density of fissile material before they'll be self-sustaining. An event that'd just sputter out at one density might become an out-of-control explosion at a slightly higher density. Likewise, what might be a small and isolated component fault at one level of connectivity could be a catastrophic cascading critical infrastructure failure at a slightly higher level of connectivity.
The possibility of cascading failures in the nuclear power system seems like something we should be putting considerable resources into avoiding, rather than actively courting.
In response to ‘Atoms for Algorithms:’ The Trump Administration’s Top Nuclear Scientists Think AI Can Replace Humans in Power Plants at 404 Media.
#IAEA #NuclearEnergy #AtomicEnergy #USEnergy #USDOE #nuclear #energy #AI #CriticalInfrastructure #FailureCascade
Edited 19d ago