# error (mistake)

a difference that is not regular

- Computed level: L2 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: everyday  ·  Arena: error

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [difference](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-difference.relation), [regular](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-regular.frequency)

**Through:** if a difference is not regular, it happens

**Novel properties:**
- unexpected deviation
- incorrect outcome

## Examples
- The 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter burned up in the atmosphere due to a unit conversion error between NASA and Lockheed Martin. *(engineering)*
- A single base pair deletion in the CFTR gene causes cystic fibrosis in humans. *(biology)*
- In 2010, a typo in a Reuters news headline about Greece exiting the eurozone briefly crashed financial markets. *(economics)*

## Used by
- [benefit of the doubt](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-benefit-of-the-doubt.trust) (L16)
- [hindsight is twenty twenty](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hindsight-is-twenty-twenty.retrospection) (L15)
- [red flag](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-red-flag.warning) (L16)

---
*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-error.mistake*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-error.mistake.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*