5 ms·

Ah, but what if the man page for elf has been sneakily changed by your superhuman-intelligent adversary? (cf. A Fire Upon the Deep, Virnor Vinge)

by dmd 10y ago

jedimastert 10y ago
I think if there was a massive attack that infected a trusting trust attack on every computer on the planet, we'd just have to start from scratch
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  Super-scratch. We'd have to trash every processor manufacturing plant on the planet; Every single one almost certainly uses computer-controlled machinery working from computer-stored plans. This would be a fun novel to read. An alien intelligence that can only act at a distance infects our computer systems, and we have to recover. A sort of post-apocalyptic scenario, except without the magic "engines don't work, but matches do" flavor. I hope Neal Stephenson is bored and looking for something to write.
  - pjc50 10y ago
    "Three-body problem" has an interesting variant on this: an alien intelligence which can sabotage physics experiments, thereby preventing humanity from exceeding a particular level of development.
    - pavel_lishin 10y ago
      I was definitely thinking of that when typing that out, although I think that the particular way the antagonists did this in Three Body Problem was like using a jet fighter to shield your infantry from the rain.
      - TeMPOraL 10y ago
        Indeed they could have done much more "fun" stuff with the tool they used. It seems that they lacked the mentality of human trolls. (BTW. I just binge-read the entire trilogy within the past two weeks, thanks to HN recommendations of the first book. And I have to say, it's great sci-fi, totally worth the time it takes to read it.)
        pavel_lishin 10y ago
        I read the first one, and it was incredibly interesting, but mostly from the cultural and historical perspectives. The "magic" bit I referenced seemed ... overpowered and yet underused. It's incredibly difficult to imagine an intelligence that can come up with that, but not extrapolate any further. Potential spoiler alert: Using that particular plot device to fool scientists into believing the laws of physics weren't constant struck me as ludicrous. The part where physicists start committing suicide instead of seeing this as the start of a revolution in their understanding of the universe was almost plausible by comparison. I need to read the second two, but I heard that the translations aren't as good :/
        pjc50 10y ago
        Taking the plot device entirely literally misses the point of the book somewhat; it's so highly metaphorical and so much of it is told through the "VR" dream sequence exposition. It's really a book about the question: how do we know what we know? Specifically, how do we find truth when powerful forces have devoted themselves to obfuscating it for us? In other words, the "cultural revolution" in China. And by extension, the present day wǔmáo dǎng era.
        pavel_lishin 10y ago
        I haven't read the sequels, but the Sophon bit seemed pretty explicitly literal. How can I not read that part literally? Either the Sophons have the power ascribed, or the plot is nonsense.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    > post-apocalyptic scenario, except without the magic "engines don't work, but matches do" flavor I don't know if you're referring to "Revolutions" TV series here, but I've seen exactly those accusations of "magic" leveled against the show in the past, on HN. I decided to watch it anyway, and... (spoiler alert) ...by the half of the first season it's becoming slowly revealed that there's no magic that happens to disable only electronics and combustion engines - it's omnipresent advanced nanotech explicitly designed to do just that.
    - pavel_lishin 10y ago
      That was probably what I was thinking about, though I didn't remember the name. And we all know what Clarke said about advanced tech...
    - kazagistar 10y ago
      Actually, I instantly thought of Dies The Fire, a novel with the same concept.
darklajid 10y ago
What man page? What 'man'? Isn't the premise of the article, that all software's gone? Good luck reading anything digital. Even better if you only have PDF files..

Ah, but what if the man page for elf has been sneakily changed by your superhuman-intelligent adversary? (cf. A Fire Upon the Deep, Virnor Vinge)

by dmd 10y ago

Ah, but what if the man page for elf has been sneakily changed by your superhuman-intelligent adversary? (cf. A Fire Upon the Deep, Virnor Vinge)

jedimastert 10y ago

I think if there was a massive attack that infected a trusting trust attack on every computer on the planet, we'd just have to start from scratch

pavel_lishin 10y ago
Super-scratch. We'd have to trash every processor manufacturing plant on the planet; Every single one almost certainly uses computer-controlled machinery working from computer-stored plans. This would be a fun novel to read. An alien intelligence that can only act at a distance infects our computer systems, and we have to recover. A sort of post-apocalyptic scenario, except without the magic "engines don't work, but matches do" flavor. I hope Neal Stephenson is bored and looking for something to write.
- pjc50 10y ago
  "Three-body problem" has an interesting variant on this: an alien intelligence which can sabotage physics experiments, thereby preventing humanity from exceeding a particular level of development.
  - pavel_lishin 10y ago
    I was definitely thinking of that when typing that out, although I think that the particular way the antagonists did this in Three Body Problem was like using a jet fighter to shield your infantry from the rain.
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      Indeed they could have done much more "fun" stuff with the tool they used. It seems that they lacked the mentality of human trolls. (BTW. I just binge-read the entire trilogy within the past two weeks, thanks to HN recommendations of the first book. And I have to say, it's great sci-fi, totally worth the time it takes to read it.)
      - pavel_lishin 10y ago
        I read the first one, and it was incredibly interesting, but mostly from the cultural and historical perspectives. The "magic" bit I referenced seemed ... overpowered and yet underused. It's incredibly difficult to imagine an intelligence that can come up with that, but not extrapolate any further. Potential spoiler alert: Using that particular plot device to fool scientists into believing the laws of physics weren't constant struck me as ludicrous. The part where physicists start committing suicide instead of seeing this as the start of a revolution in their understanding of the universe was almost plausible by comparison. I need to read the second two, but I heard that the translations aren't as good :/
        pjc50 10y ago
        Taking the plot device entirely literally misses the point of the book somewhat; it's so highly metaphorical and so much of it is told through the "VR" dream sequence exposition. It's really a book about the question: how do we know what we know? Specifically, how do we find truth when powerful forces have devoted themselves to obfuscating it for us? In other words, the "cultural revolution" in China. And by extension, the present day wǔmáo dǎng era.
        pavel_lishin 10y ago
        I haven't read the sequels, but the Sophon bit seemed pretty explicitly literal. How can I not read that part literally? Either the Sophons have the power ascribed, or the plot is nonsense.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  > post-apocalyptic scenario, except without the magic "engines don't work, but matches do" flavor I don't know if you're referring to "Revolutions" TV series here, but I've seen exactly those accusations of "magic" leveled against the show in the past, on HN. I decided to watch it anyway, and... (spoiler alert) ...by the half of the first season it's becoming slowly revealed that there's no magic that happens to disable only electronics and combustion engines - it's omnipresent advanced nanotech explicitly designed to do just that.
  - pavel_lishin 10y ago
    That was probably what I was thinking about, though I didn't remember the name. And we all know what Clarke said about advanced tech...
  - kazagistar 10y ago
    Actually, I instantly thought of Dies The Fire, a novel with the same concept.

darklajid 10y ago

What man page? What 'man'? Isn't the premise of the article, that all software's gone? Good luck reading anything digital. Even better if you only have PDF files..