Patrick McKenzie (patio11) is joined by Will Wilson, CEO of Antithesis, to discuss the evolution of software testing from traditional approaches to cutting-edge deterministic simulation. Will explains how his team built technology that creates "time machines" for distributed systems, enabling developers to find and debug complex failures that would be nearly impossible to reproduce in traditional testing environments. They explore how this approach scales from finding novel bugs in Super Mario Brothers to ensuring the reliability of critical financial and infrastructure systems, and discuss the implications for a future where AI writes increasingly more code.
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Full transcript available here: www.complexsystemspodcast.com/software-testing-with-will-wilson/

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Recommended in this episode:

• Antithesis: https://antithesis.com/

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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:23) Database scaling and the CAP theorem
(08:13) Abstraction layers and hardware reality
(15:28) The problem with traditional testing
(19:43) Sponsor: Framer
(23:16) The fuzzing revolution
(30:35) Deterministic simulation testing
(42:36) Real-world testing strategies
(47:22) Introducing Antithesis
(59:23) The CrowdStrike example
(01:01:15) Finding bugs in Mario
(01:07:37) Property-based vs conventional testing
(01:09:51) The future of AI-assisted development
(01:14:51) Wrap

Patrick McKenzie (patio11) is joined by Bean, a pseudonymous defense industry expert, to explore the intellectual crossovers between military and civilian domains. The conversation reveals how the defense industry's fundamental constraint of having only one customer (a monopsony) creates entirely different incentives than tech, leading to conservatism and 30-50 year product lifecycles. Bean argues that drones are largely modern iterations of cruise missiles we've had since the 1950s, and explains why current anti-drone defenses make swarm attacks less threatening than headlines suggest.
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Full transcript available here: www.complexsystemspodcast.com/defense-with-bean-of-naval-gazing/

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Recommended in this episode:

• Naval Gazing: https://www.navalgazing.net/

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(00:29) The overlap between tech and defense

(01:35) Operations research in World War II

(02:55) Mathematical insights and military strategies

(05:28) The role of operations research in modern warfare

(16:59) Tech and defense (Part 1)

(19:48) Sponsor: Mercury

(21:00) Tech and defense (Part 2)

(26:07) Economics behind the defense industry

(32:07) SpaceX's early challenges and achievements

(33:00) The Super Hornet development story

(34:39) Military procurement lessons

(37:42) Aerospace industry retention rates

(38:42) Lockheed Martin's dominance and supply chain

(40:55) Drone technology and military applications

(46:53) Anti-drone defenses and future warfare

(48:01) Naval warfare and historical perspectives

(01:01:03) Wrap