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Just to remind you all, this is coming from a country whose cybersecurity minister claims to have "never touched a PC in his life". https://www.bbc.com/news/te

Just to remind you all, this is coming from a country whose cybersecurity minister claims to have "never touched a PC in his life". https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46222026 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46222026

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
justinjlynn 8y ago
Sounds about right...
james_s_tayler 8y ago
Fun fact my waifu confessed she never touched a computer until entering University. She's terrible at using any technology in general as a result. It's mildly fascinating.
- sk0g 8y ago
  Does your comment really add to the discussion, aside from weirding some people out?
  - f-jin 8y ago
    Aside from using the term "waifu" instead of something like "wife" / "SO" / "girlfriend", the comment itself seems fine to me. I've heard stories of low computer literacy in Japan from other sources as well, it is quite interesting.
    - sk0g 8y ago
      Well, if I'm not wrong, waifus are fictional characters people take on as a SO of sorts. So it doesn't even qualify as an anecdote, IMO.
      - y4mi 8y ago
        you're definitely not wrong. a waifu is not a human. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waifu https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waifu
        james_s_tayler 8y ago
        My friends sometimes use it in an ironic sense to refer to my wife who is Japanese.
        tsunamifury 8y ago
        Maybe consider the literal implications of the "joke", even if its meant to be ironic/endearing or something similar.
        james_s_tayler 8y ago
        No.
      - AnaniasAnanas 8y ago
        Pretty sure that he just tried to use a cute japanese-sounding term to describe his Japanese wife without necessarily knowing what it means.
      - james_s_tayler 8y ago
        Wrong in this case. My actual wife is Japanese. She often gets me to help her out with very, very, very basic things on the computer. She's relatively smart outside of that, speaks fluent English and graduated uni both in Japan and overseas. But it's as if the basic foundation for working out new abstractions on a computer just aren't there. Which is how the discussion came up. I was curious why such a level of computer illiteracy would be present in someone who grew up in the 90s/00s. People are shocked at hearing about that minister who says he never touched a computer. I was equally shocked when my wife casually told me she never touched a computer until entering University. I wouldn't have thought that to be possible given how much technology I grew up around in the West. I assumed it would have been the same in Japan, but it can't have been. I guess in a way it doesn't surprise me. On the outside Japan looks like this super technologically advanced country and in reality they still send faxes. It's half stuck decades in the past and halfway planted in the future.
  - james_s_tayler 8y ago
    You know, when she told me that it weirded me out too. I was like... HOW!!?? I remember growing up in school we always had computers in the classroom and computer literacy programs. It must have meant that at all the schools she attended in Japan growing up they didn't have that. Else there's no way that'd be possible. Just mildly fascinating. Totally not what I expected. So when the minister in charge of the stuff says he hasn't touched a computer, I can believe it.
    - glandium 8y ago
      I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened in other countries. A lot more people use smartphones and tablets than desktop computers these days.
  - cdf2theworld 8y ago
    It adds a new discussion! That discussion is titled, "Is sk0g an overbearing asshole?" Let's jump in and find out what HN thinks!
- martin_a 8y ago
  I find this interesting as I have always thought of Japan as a high-tech nation and thought that especially young people should be very good with computers.
b_tterc_p 8y ago
That same minister is launching a cyber attack on unsecured IoT devices to get the country to strengthen its stuff. He seems far the from the worst guy for the job. https://www.google.com/amp/s/spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/japan-aims-to-probe-unsecured-iot-devices-and-then-prod-users-to-smarten-up.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/tel...
- drdaeman 8y ago
  Sounds like a white-hat stuff to me - probing the security and reporting found vulnerabilities to owners. Genuinely curious - why do you write it like this a bad thing? As long as they don't exploit what they find, of course. Better let good-intended actors do that before ill-intended actors do the same.
  - b_tterc_p 8y ago
    I think it’s an awesome thing to do. Heck I think they should push even harder than they’re currently doing. This is the only real way that I see governments can practically enhance average national security. I wrote that as a way to counter the assumed image of him being incompetent because he himself doesn’t use computers. Perhaps it was unclear.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

justinjlynn 8y ago

Sounds about right...

james_s_tayler 8y ago

Fun fact my waifu confessed she never touched a computer until entering University. She's terrible at using any technology in general as a result. It's mildly fascinating.

sk0g 8y ago
Does your comment really add to the discussion, aside from weirding some people out?
- f-jin 8y ago
  Aside from using the term "waifu" instead of something like "wife" / "SO" / "girlfriend", the comment itself seems fine to me. I've heard stories of low computer literacy in Japan from other sources as well, it is quite interesting.
  - sk0g 8y ago
    Well, if I'm not wrong, waifus are fictional characters people take on as a SO of sorts. So it doesn't even qualify as an anecdote, IMO.
    - y4mi 8y ago
      you're definitely not wrong. a waifu is not a human. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waifu https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waifu
      - james_s_tayler 8y ago
        My friends sometimes use it in an ironic sense to refer to my wife who is Japanese.
        tsunamifury 8y ago
        Maybe consider the literal implications of the "joke", even if its meant to be ironic/endearing or something similar.
        james_s_tayler 8y ago
        No.
    - AnaniasAnanas 8y ago
      Pretty sure that he just tried to use a cute japanese-sounding term to describe his Japanese wife without necessarily knowing what it means.
    - james_s_tayler 8y ago
      Wrong in this case. My actual wife is Japanese. She often gets me to help her out with very, very, very basic things on the computer. She's relatively smart outside of that, speaks fluent English and graduated uni both in Japan and overseas. But it's as if the basic foundation for working out new abstractions on a computer just aren't there. Which is how the discussion came up. I was curious why such a level of computer illiteracy would be present in someone who grew up in the 90s/00s. People are shocked at hearing about that minister who says he never touched a computer. I was equally shocked when my wife casually told me she never touched a computer until entering University. I wouldn't have thought that to be possible given how much technology I grew up around in the West. I assumed it would have been the same in Japan, but it can't have been. I guess in a way it doesn't surprise me. On the outside Japan looks like this super technologically advanced country and in reality they still send faxes. It's half stuck decades in the past and halfway planted in the future.
- james_s_tayler 8y ago
  You know, when she told me that it weirded me out too. I was like... HOW!!?? I remember growing up in school we always had computers in the classroom and computer literacy programs. It must have meant that at all the schools she attended in Japan growing up they didn't have that. Else there's no way that'd be possible. Just mildly fascinating. Totally not what I expected. So when the minister in charge of the stuff says he hasn't touched a computer, I can believe it.
  - glandium 8y ago
    I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened in other countries. A lot more people use smartphones and tablets than desktop computers these days.
- cdf2theworld 8y ago
  It adds a new discussion! That discussion is titled, "Is sk0g an overbearing asshole?" Let's jump in and find out what HN thinks!
martin_a 8y ago
I find this interesting as I have always thought of Japan as a high-tech nation and thought that especially young people should be very good with computers.

b_tterc_p 8y ago

That same minister is launching a cyber attack on unsecured IoT devices to get the country to strengthen its stuff. He seems far the from the worst guy for the job. https://www.google.com/amp/s/spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/japan-aims-to-probe-unsecured-iot-devices-and-then-prod-users-to-smarten-up.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/tel...

drdaeman 8y ago
Sounds like a white-hat stuff to me - probing the security and reporting found vulnerabilities to owners. Genuinely curious - why do you write it like this a bad thing? As long as they don't exploit what they find, of course. Better let good-intended actors do that before ill-intended actors do the same.
- b_tterc_p 8y ago
  I think it’s an awesome thing to do. Heck I think they should push even harder than they’re currently doing. This is the only real way that I see governments can practically enhance average national security. I wrote that as a way to counter the assumed image of him being incompetent because he himself doesn’t use computers. Perhaps it was unclear.