The truth is that you can’t handle the truth. No system can. Cheating in large computer systems, just like white lies around the holidays, is inevitable. We live in a constantly changing universe too dense and volatile for a mere computer system to generate a perfect response. So we cheat, but it’s for the common good.

It is crucial for any engineer to be able to separate the absolute “scientific” truth from the facts that serve the cause and have functional value for the system she is building. Failing to do so would inevitably result in an over-engineered, slow, unscalable and unmaintainable system.