It's "HN-likely" which translates to "almost never" in reality.

Supermancho · 2026-01-23T20:13:45 1769199225

Happens all the time, in reality (even on the darkside). When the atmosphere fails (again, happening all the time), error correction usually handles the errant bits.

patja · 2026-01-23T18:38:34 1769193514

Especially since HN readers are more likely to be using ECC memory

smegger001 · 2026-01-23T18:40:12 1769193612

if cosmic ray bit flips were so rare then ecc ram wouldn't be a thing.

Sayrus · 2026-01-23T18:44:34 1769193874

ECC protects against more events than cosmic rays. Those events are much more likely, for instance magnetic/electric interferences or chip issues.

direwolf20 · 2026-01-23T19:07:14 1769195234

Those random unexplainable events are also referred to casually as "cosmic rays"

wang_li · 2026-01-23T18:59:41 1769194781

In the 2010 era of RAM density, random bit flips were really uncommon. I worked with over a thousand systems which would report ECC errors when they happen and the only memorable events at all were actual DIMM failures.

Also, around 1999-2000, Sun blamed cosmic rays for bit flips for random crashes with their UltraSPARC II CPU modules.

mapontosevenths · 2026-01-23T20:04:25 1769198665

> actual DIMM failures.

Yep, hardware failures, electrical glitches, EM interference... All things that actually happen to actual people every single day in truly enormous numbers.

It ain't cosmic rays, but the consequences are still flipped bits.