What do they know about the CAP theorem that I don't?
I don't know your expertise on the subject, but they do have a post on this topic.
Some highlights:
"Does this mean that Spanner is a CA system as defined by CAP? The short answer is “no” technically, but “yes” in effect and its users can and do assume CA."
"The purist answer is “no” because partitions can happen and in fact have happened at Google, and during some partitions, Spanner chooses C and forfeits A. It is technically a CP system."
I don't know your expertise on the subject, but they do have a post on this topic.
Some highlights:
"Does this mean that Spanner is a CA system as defined by CAP? The short answer is “no” technically, but “yes” in effect and its users can and do assume CA."
"The purist answer is “no” because partitions can happen and in fact have happened at Google, and during some partitions, Spanner chooses C and forfeits A. It is technically a CP system."
https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2017/02/inside-Cloud-Sp...