Reliability of computing is in essence one of the main topics of this film. Krisztof's series Dekcalogue is a commentary on the 10 commandments, the first being "I am the Lord thy God, thou shall have no other gods before me." In the movie Krzysztof is an atheist who believes strongly in scientific observation and conjecture. For the purposes of making a social critique, science and computing are Krzysztof's deity. The lesson that follows is that science and technology are not a replacement for god and cannot be counted on in the same way. Krzysztof and Pawel put their faith in the science of the ice on the lake. Yet despite that the ice breaks and Pawel is assumed dead.
It is critical to consider the social state of Poland at the time of the release of this film. To this day Poland remains one of the most homogeneous catholic countries around the world. In the eighties the church was the focal point of anti-communist sentiment after being suppressed for decades. The director calls himself mostly atheist but even for him putting blind faith into something like technology was wrong. In the movie we see fairly archaic computing technology compared to what we have now over 30 years later. Yet we see Krzysztof believe that computers are capable of bring programed to the point where a simple translator will have personality.
Resources:
https://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/exhibits/roman-catholic-church/introduction