Re: The Future of Secrecy

From: Wei Dai (weidai@weidai.com)
Date: Wed Jun 18 2003 - 18:40:54 MDT

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    On Wed, Jun 18, 2003 at 07:33:58PM -0400, Robin Hanson wrote:
    > I agree that this is a problem with this model. I need to think more about
    > what a good model would be. Your proposed model doesn't seem right either.

    What's the problem with my model?

    > We are obviously getting pretty speculative here, trying to estimate which
    > computations are more or less costly for our distant descendants. My
    > intuition is that it shouldn't be that hard to verify what data structures
    > are used for choosing ordinary actions,

    There could be a piece of code hidden anywhere that overwrites those data
    structures from a private backup as soon as the inspections are over,
    unless those data structures are protected against access by anything
    except "approved" algorithms (i.e., the data lives in tamper-proof
    hardware that doesn't run any code not digitally signed by Microsoft). But
    if the algorithms controlling your thought processes are the same as
    everyone else's, in what sense are you still an individual?

    Then again, maybe that is what the future will bring. Resistance is
    futile?



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