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Mark my words: Hyrum's Law will strike in full force and introduce a whole new world of pain once more and more software development will be done (or helped-) b

by qayxc 5y ago

Mark my words: Hyrum's Law will strike in full force and introduce a whole new world of pain once more and more software development will be done (or helped-) by machine learning. What happened here is a perfect example of what an optimiser might come up with and resulting systems will be so brittle and delicate that a whole new form of cargo cult might develop around them :D

coliveira 5y ago
Future systems will be like human genome: a small letter change will lead to the system self destroying after 20 days of flawless operation.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- tryauuum 5y ago
  I wonder if there actually is a possibility of something like that in human genome. Are there any known bugs that can be introduced to human genome and instantly kill a human after, e.g. 18 years of normal operation?
  - a_t48 5y ago
    Aneurysms.
  - NavinF 5y ago
    Do genes associated with cancer count? I can't think of anything that kicks in instantly, but there are plenty of probabilistic bugs
  - masklinn 5y ago
    “Known” probably not because nobody cares but if you can edit the generic code of all cells (not just one) you just need to do a function-affecting substitution of a protein-coding segment for a vital protein. Doesn’t matter which one as long as it’s not solely developmental. It would not quite be instant though, the body would first have to run out of the existing supply then break down as operations stop. If you pick the right protein (e.g. something affecting the muscles or brain) I’d think the timescale would be minutes if not seconds. If you can only edit one cell or a small number if them then probably not, you can definitely cause long-term issues (e.g. cancers) but I would not think instant death an option. I think the GP was talking more about existing genetic defects leading to sudden issues down the line though.
- masklinn 5y ago
  Surely they’d already the case? There’s tons of latent bugs which are only revealed because the conditions to trigger them have not been encountered yet. Every 4 years code breaks all over in leap days. A program crashing after not crashing is essentially “the system self destroying”.

by qayxc 5y ago

coliveira 5y ago

Future systems will be like human genome: a small letter change will lead to the system self destroying after 20 days of flawless operation.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
tryauuum 5y ago
I wonder if there actually is a possibility of something like that in human genome. Are there any known bugs that can be introduced to human genome and instantly kill a human after, e.g. 18 years of normal operation?
- a_t48 5y ago
  Aneurysms.
- NavinF 5y ago
  Do genes associated with cancer count? I can't think of anything that kicks in instantly, but there are plenty of probabilistic bugs
- masklinn 5y ago
  “Known” probably not because nobody cares but if you can edit the generic code of all cells (not just one) you just need to do a function-affecting substitution of a protein-coding segment for a vital protein. Doesn’t matter which one as long as it’s not solely developmental. It would not quite be instant though, the body would first have to run out of the existing supply then break down as operations stop. If you pick the right protein (e.g. something affecting the muscles or brain) I’d think the timescale would be minutes if not seconds. If you can only edit one cell or a small number if them then probably not, you can definitely cause long-term issues (e.g. cancers) but I would not think instant death an option. I think the GP was talking more about existing genetic defects leading to sudden issues down the line though.
masklinn 5y ago
Surely they’d already the case? There’s tons of latent bugs which are only revealed because the conditions to trigger them have not been encountered yet. Every 4 years code breaks all over in leap days. A program crashing after not crashing is essentially “the system self destroying”.