Well, you're missing the point of my (somewhat sardonic) post: if it's an (actual) firing squad, the distances involved (along with the latency for a human to pull a trigger, the time to target for the bullet[1] etc) are so different in order of magnitude from the speed of light, that it might as well be instantaneous (note also that there's a subtle feature in reflecting off the wall, as for a "sane" number of soldiers, it is possible to position them at an equal distance from the "signal spot" on the wall (and presumably the target[2] of the firing squad).
It's hard to imagine a system made up of (human) soldiers that give better (temporal) accuracy than this, by using a counter and relayed messaging.
I do of course realize that it's not the scenario that is problem to be solved, but the communication (and computation?) model of which it is supposed to be an example. Still think it can be useful to solve the (stated) problem, rather than trying to make the perceived model fit the actual problem -- when that model clearly has surplus complexity and/or artificial constraints.
[1] or with powerful laser weapons, time-to-death after "impact"? ;-)
[2] Now, assuming a single target might be a bad assumption. What if we want to kill all our intellectuals at once?
[edit: Almost forgot - another reason why a visual cue might be good in this case, is that it seems safe to assume that each soldier will aim at the target, presumably by some form of light-guidiance, so a visual cue relies on constraints already part of the system]
It's hard to imagine a system made up of (human) soldiers that give better (temporal) accuracy than this, by using a counter and relayed messaging.
I do of course realize that it's not the scenario that is problem to be solved, but the communication (and computation?) model of which it is supposed to be an example. Still think it can be useful to solve the (stated) problem, rather than trying to make the perceived model fit the actual problem -- when that model clearly has surplus complexity and/or artificial constraints.
[1] or with powerful laser weapons, time-to-death after "impact"? ;-)
[2] Now, assuming a single target might be a bad assumption. What if we want to kill all our intellectuals at once?
[edit: Almost forgot - another reason why a visual cue might be good in this case, is that it seems safe to assume that each soldier will aim at the target, presumably by some form of light-guidiance, so a visual cue relies on constraints already part of the system]