---
title: "Regression as Institutional Memory"
date: 2026-04-20
topics: [philosophy, epistemology, craft]
related: []
abstract: >
  A test suite is the codified set of claims an organisation has committed to believing about itself. Every regression failure is either a discovery that the world has changed, or an amnesia event in which we have forgotten why we once believed the claim — and distinguishing the two is the real work.
---

Regression as Institutional Memory. A test suite is the codified set of claims an organisation has committed to believing about itself. Every regression failure is either a discovery (the world changed) or an amnesia event (we forgot why we believed this). The epistemology angle here is rich — Wittgenstein's On Certainty[^1] is a good touchstone. This would also give you a stronger argument than you've yet made for why deleting tests is sometimes the right move.

[^1]: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wittgenstein/#OnCe