I Thought John Connor Took Care of This

Non-Phish General
#1

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,464846,00.html

What’s next, Skynet?

Let me avow right now, since I’m on the fringe of this type of DoD development, and actually just received my TS clearance yesterday, that the real danger in your government going down this road is in the profit aspect of the business.

Contractors like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, the company that employs me, are constantly cutting corners to maximize profits. In SW development, this mostly means SW re-use, a method that brings with it security shortfalls because hackers are always two steps ahead of the current technology. Using older configurations to make more profits, leaves systems more open to attack and takeover.

If you’re building a totally automated system in the sky, based on software control built by contractors, there is an inherent danger of security breaches. And even though, a ‘protective system’ that can pluck a ballistic missile out of the air is an offensive deterent, the complexity of such a system multiplies the number of possible shortfalls that can be exploited and turned against us.

But hey, the Giants are headed to the playoffs and Phish is back in March, so what, me worry?

#2

My God

[flash=350,287]http://www.youtube.com/v/oPFj8kGXnwk&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]

That’s scary

#3

Our technology is our greatest achievement and will be our greatest downfall. There is so much that we have lost as human beings since becoming so computer reliant.

#4

We, are totally fucked.

#5

100% percent agree with that, Bill.

#6

::starts listening to thnkfrstpal::

#7

“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!” - Charles Dickens

It’s amazing how much importance is placed upon the bible, the koran, the torah, mostly because these were some of the earliest writings of man’s basic philosophies. But since then, there are just so many great writers who have re-interpreted those ideas and expressed them so much more better.

The value of a good education is really beyond measure, if for no other reason than to expose people to the interpretations that will be most meaningful to them, and to give them the tools to pass that knowledge down to their inheritors.

#8

Shit, I just got one of those for my kid for Christmas. How was I to know?