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Semicolony ELI5 · comic

Quorum.

Nothing counts until most copies say yes — and any two majorities always share a witness.

  1. MOTION
    1

    Each member keeps a copy of the record; the motion on the table is a write asking to change it.

  2. to pass: 3 of 5 more than half, or nothing
    2

    Three of five is the smallest count that no rival group can also reach.

  3. Carried. Tell the absentees.
    3 yes — it carries
    3

    Two members never voted, and the motion stands anyway — one slow machine cannot jam the works.

  4. shared two majorities always overlap
    4

    Pick any two majorities from the same five: somebody sits in both, and remembers what they signed.

  5. 3 — acts 2 — waits
    5

    A partition cannot mint extra members — at most one side can scrape together three.

  6. R + W > N overlap = fresh reads
    6

    Reads play the same overlap game: make readers and writers intersect, and at least one copy consulted is current.

A committee that needs a majority to act — so two halves of a split can never both decide.
Semicolony semicolony.dev/eli5/quorum/comic
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