5 ms·

>In fact, I think it's likely that they're significantly smarter than any of us. Bear that in mind when you design your NSA-proof email applications. Math is m

by mjolk 13y ago

>In fact, I think it's likely that they're significantly smarter than any of us. Bear that in mind when you design your NSA-proof email applications. Math is math and it's relatively easy to implement decent encryption -- it is possible to pass data securely from end to end. The larger issue with these projects is that they're usually proposed by someone that can sling a bit of Ruby and fashions him/herself a cyber revolutionary, not someone that understands that the real power of the US Government in the tech sphere is its ability to apply pressure away from a keyboard - whether it be a subpoena for raw data from a hosting provider, legal fuckery, or sending armed soldiers to your doorstep.

tptacek 13y ago
Heh.
- walshemj 13y ago
  yeah right if your Bruce it is :-)
  - tptacek 13y ago
    Heh. http://sockpuppet.org/blog/2013/07/22/applied-practical-cryptography/ http://sockpuppet.org/blog/2013/07/22/applied-practical-cryp...
seiji 13y ago
Math is math Physics is physics. We all know time is fixed, the universe has been around forever, and atoms are the smallest indivisible component of matter. The world, under the guise of "everybody is created equal," has fallen under the spell of "everybody has the same intellectual capacity" (which is clearly wrong). Yahoo isn't paying a high school dropout $100 million + $80 million because of his snazzy FU-my-mom-dresses-me haircut — they're paying him that because he's different. He's better. He's done more in five years than you've done in 20. You can't train that. People just are. The government tries to grab all the clearly better-than-everybody-else undergrads through their sneaky alliances with CS departments and professors. They usually win. Programs are programs and it's relatively easy to implement a program. But, some programs are worth billions of dollars and others aren't worth half a farthing. It's the people who make a difference.
- smtddr 13y ago
  > The world, under the guise of "everybody is created equal," has fallen under the spell of "everybody has the same intellectual capacity" (which is clearly wrong). Yahoo isn't paying a high school dropout $100 million + $80 million because of his snazzy FU-my-mom-dresses-me haircut — they're paying him that because he's different. He's better. He's done more in five years than you've done in 20. You can't train that. People just are. Don't agree. I don't like the idea that knowing some fancy-trendy-computer skill is equal to "He's different", "He's better.". Computer skills don't make you better than a plumber. It's just a skill. A skill that turns out to be in ridiculously high-demand today, but it doesn't make you better than the plumber or the janitor or the cashier at Starbucks. I know when I decided to get a BS in computer-science, I had the full intention of being a videogame developer barely making ends meet in a cockroach-filled apartment. I had absolutely no idea this whole Bay Area trendy-"web2.0"-linux-cloud-opensource movement was going to happen at all. I surely didn't plan to make even half the salary I'm getting now. This make my family incredibly fortunate, but not better than anyone else. I think HN-folks in general need reminders that we're not some group of superior beings, we're just insanely lucky we won the "career-lottery" for being in the right place at the right time with the right skills. P.S. I don't know how we'd measure intellect, but I do believe that all healthy human beings do have the same potential for the amount of knowledge they can consume, at least at birth. And I'm not even sure how to define "healthy", Stephen Hawking probably doesn't meet most people's definition of healthy but he's very smart, right? And is he smart in all subjects? Or just physics, cosmology, astrophysics and other universe-related things? What subjects do you need to be well-versed in to be considered smart?
  - dmd 13y ago
    > I do believe that all healthy human beings do have the same potential for the amount of knowledge they can consume, at least at birth This makes no sense whatsoever. Do you really believe that while people have genetics that control their skin color, hair color, susceptibility to various diseases, etc., etc., etc., somehow the brain is some magic non-biological organ that is not built by DNA?
    - 13y ago
WettowelReactor 13y ago
You make it seem like crypto is a solved domain. Implementation of crypto is incredibly difficult to do right even when the underlying "math" is provably secure.

by mjolk 13y ago

tptacek 13y ago

Heh.

walshemj 13y ago
yeah right if your Bruce it is :-)
- tptacek 13y ago
  Heh. http://sockpuppet.org/blog/2013/07/22/applied-practical-cryptography/ http://sockpuppet.org/blog/2013/07/22/applied-practical-cryp...

seiji 13y ago

Math is math Physics is physics. We all know time is fixed, the universe has been around forever, and atoms are the smallest indivisible component of matter. The world, under the guise of "everybody is created equal," has fallen under the spell of "everybody has the same intellectual capacity" (which is clearly wrong). Yahoo isn't paying a high school dropout $100 million + $80 million because of his snazzy FU-my-mom-dresses-me haircut — they're paying him that because he's different. He's better. He's done more in five years than you've done in 20. You can't train that. People just are. The government tries to grab all the clearly better-than-everybody-else undergrads through their sneaky alliances with CS departments and professors. They usually win. Programs are programs and it's relatively easy to implement a program. But, some programs are worth billions of dollars and others aren't worth half a farthing. It's the people who make a difference.

smtddr 13y ago
> The world, under the guise of "everybody is created equal," has fallen under the spell of "everybody has the same intellectual capacity" (which is clearly wrong). Yahoo isn't paying a high school dropout $100 million + $80 million because of his snazzy FU-my-mom-dresses-me haircut — they're paying him that because he's different. He's better. He's done more in five years than you've done in 20. You can't train that. People just are. Don't agree. I don't like the idea that knowing some fancy-trendy-computer skill is equal to "He's different", "He's better.". Computer skills don't make you better than a plumber. It's just a skill. A skill that turns out to be in ridiculously high-demand today, but it doesn't make you better than the plumber or the janitor or the cashier at Starbucks. I know when I decided to get a BS in computer-science, I had the full intention of being a videogame developer barely making ends meet in a cockroach-filled apartment. I had absolutely no idea this whole Bay Area trendy-"web2.0"-linux-cloud-opensource movement was going to happen at all. I surely didn't plan to make even half the salary I'm getting now. This make my family incredibly fortunate, but not better than anyone else. I think HN-folks in general need reminders that we're not some group of superior beings, we're just insanely lucky we won the "career-lottery" for being in the right place at the right time with the right skills. P.S. I don't know how we'd measure intellect, but I do believe that all healthy human beings do have the same potential for the amount of knowledge they can consume, at least at birth. And I'm not even sure how to define "healthy", Stephen Hawking probably doesn't meet most people's definition of healthy but he's very smart, right? And is he smart in all subjects? Or just physics, cosmology, astrophysics and other universe-related things? What subjects do you need to be well-versed in to be considered smart?
- dmd 13y ago
  > I do believe that all healthy human beings do have the same potential for the amount of knowledge they can consume, at least at birth This makes no sense whatsoever. Do you really believe that while people have genetics that control their skin color, hair color, susceptibility to various diseases, etc., etc., etc., somehow the brain is some magic non-biological organ that is not built by DNA?
  - 13y ago

WettowelReactor 13y ago

You make it seem like crypto is a solved domain. Implementation of crypto is incredibly difficult to do right even when the underlying "math" is provably secure.