2 February, 2026
While learning Digital Circuit Design as part of my EE degree, I learnt that when a circuit fails, it could be either an application fault or a design fault.
In the former, the design is correct but the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have not been applied correctly, such as violating the specified temperature range of the circuit. Correction is simple: relearn the SOPs, reapply.
For a design fault, the recourse is: deconstruct, redesign, reconstruct. I would like to repeat: deconstruct, redesign, reconstruct.
This simple logic, in my view, applies to the world. It is a disaster when we confuse one with the other.
Examples of classical design faults: democracy; banking; the whole notion of a nation state; monarchies; communism; the current schooling system.
Examples of application faults: the Islamic ideology; Lean Six Sigma production system; the framework of scientific research.
Remember: For a design fault, it is deconstruct, redesign, reconstruct.
For an application fault, it is relearn, reapply.