We look at the YAM cryptocurrency bug and ask whether in a digital age our capacity to mess up has spiralled out of control.

In this podcast, we examine software bugs and other types of error, and discuss whether there is any connection between the size of an error and its consequence. We also attempt to classify types of errors and look at how they might be compounded by the complex systems humans have created. Finally, we consider if errors are uniquely human phenomena or whether they can occur in our absence.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- The YAM bug
- The El Dorado fire

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Image: Alex Proimos via Wikimedia Commons