Glossary entry

Brittleness

Glossary entry in Failure modes (why Ethotechnics exists). Definitions, checks, and evidence for Brittleness.

Quick takeaways

When a system fractures under real-world variance—unexpected inputs, refusals, or edge cases—forcing humans to absorb the impact.

Definition

When a system fractures under real-world variance—unexpected inputs, refusals, or edge cases—forcing humans to absorb the impact. Brittleness signals missing soft edges, thin graceful degradation, and poor refusal tolerance.

Diagnostic
Scope
B. Failure modes (why Ethotechnics exists). Common patterns where responsibility dissolves and harm accelerates.
Genealogy
Highlights the need for soft edges, graceful degradation, and refusal tolerance.

Related concepts

Also tagged: Diagnostic

Moral Latency Accountability Diffusion Extraction Extraction by Endurance Drift (System Drift) Externalization

Example corpus

  • A flight booking bot fails on hyphenated surnames, forcing agents to rebook travelers at the counter.

Copy citation (APA/BibTeX)

Cite this glossary entry Formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, BibTeX, RIS

Version

v1.4.0

Last updated

Sep 18, 2026

DOI

Pending Zenodo deposit

APA

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. (2026). Brittleness. Ethotechnics glossary. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/brittleness

MLA

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. "Brittleness." Ethotechnics glossary, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/brittleness.

Chicago

Ethotechnics Institute Research Team. "Brittleness." Ethotechnics glossary. Sep 18, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/brittleness.

BibTeX

@misc{glossary_brittleness,
  title={Brittleness},
  author={Ethotechnics Institute Research Team},
  year={2026},
  howpublished={Ethotechnics glossary},
  url={https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/brittleness},
  version={v1.4.0}
}

RIS

TY  - WEB
TI  - Brittleness
AU  - Ethotechnics Institute Research Team
PY  - 2026
UR  - https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/brittleness
ER  -

Scholarly metadata

Authorship

Contact: research@ethotechnics.org

Publication details

  • Published: Dec 3, 2025
  • Last updated: Sep 18, 2026
  • Version: v1.4.0
  • DOI: Pending Zenodo deposit

License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Credit Ethotechnics Institute, include the term title + version, and link to the glossary permalink.

Archive: Wayback Machine history

Changelog

  • v1.7.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Non-Finality, Consequential Contradiction, and The Excluded Case, and generalized the falsified denominator into the falsified ledger — completing the five concerns and the fallibilist ground they stand on.
  • v1.6.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Human Non-Substitutability, Safe Incompleteness, Anti-Conversion Rights, Abstention, Constitutional Debt, Discretion Migration, and Corrigibility Rent — the person-side principles, the three abstentions, and the rent concept.
  • v1.5.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Exception Absorption, Exception Learning, Case Corrigibility, Structural Corrigibility, Institutional Learning, Corrective Debt, and the Workaround Presumption, formalizing the historical turn: reading institutions through their failure trajectories rather than their stated controls.
  • v1.4.0 · 2026-09-18 — Added Residual Complexity, Complexity Displacement, Falsified Denominator, Closure Without Remainder, Constitutional Governance, and Post-Optimization Rigor, embedding the foundational contention of burden redistribution.
  • v1.3.0 · 2026-09-11 — Added Attestation, Liability Record, Carve-Out, Delegation Chain, Composed Latency, and Silent-Harm Discovery, each bound to the standard clause that requires it.
  • v1.2.0 · 2026-09-08 — Added The Non-Conversion Principle, Exit Cost, and Jurisdictional Path Dependence, each linked to the theory essay that argues for it.
  • v1.1.0 · 2026-01-09 — Expanded scholarly metadata, operational tests, and provenance notes.
  • v1.0.0 · 2025-12-03 — Initial glossary release with stable permalinks.