I truly understand neither a) why this piece of puff is on HN nor b) why it is so highly voted. As others have noted, I have no real evidence for my views. To

I truly understand neither a) why this piece of puff is on HN nor b) why it is so highly voted. As others have noted, I have no real evidence for my views. To me this is a total WTF? The author is ignorant of the subject and like so many experts outside their fields supposes that the field that has suddenly piqued their interest cannot, must not, be all that complex. Factoring some numbers is very, very easy. Factoring other numbers is computationally hard. The consensus in the field is that there are no shortcuts. See, e.g., [1] and [2]. [1] http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~kam6zx/is-it-secure/the-hardness-of-factoring/ http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~kam6zx/is-it-secure/the-hardness... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integer_factorization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integer_factorization Next, I shall write a brief article declaring that warp drive is likely far easier than everyone thinks. Please upvote it when I submit it to HN....