Trend Watch

WidgetBucks - Trend Watch - WidgetBucks.com
   

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Hacking Quotes!

A computer makes as many mistakes in one second as three men working for thirty years straight.

A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do.

A computer program will always do what you tell it to do, but rarely what you want to do.

A computer scientist is someone who fixes things that aren’t broken.

A fellow who is always declaring that he is no fool usually harbors suspicions to the contrary.

A friend in power is a friend lost.

A logician trying to explain logic to a programmer is like a cat trying to explain to a fish what it’s like to get wet.

A man will believe anything that does not cost him anything.

A misplaced decimal point will always end up where it will do the greatest damage.

A narrow mind has a broad tongue

Hacking Quotes!

Do you program in Assembly? she asked. NO, he said.

INSERT DISK THREE? But I can only get two in the drive!

Intel Inside is a Government Warning required by Law.

Intel Inside: The world’s most widely used warning label.

2 + 2 = 5, for extremely large values of 2.

2400 Baud makes you want to get out and push!

586: The average IQ needed to understand a PC.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk I have a workstation…

A C program is like a fast dance on a newly waxed dance floor by people carrying razors.
A closed mouth says nothing wrong; a closed mind does nothing right.
A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine.
A computer is like an Old Testament god, with a lot of rules and no mercy.

Technological Singularity

Imagine a society where one could upload, or download a personality from a supercomputer, or increase intelligence by artificial means. This illustrates a society that transcends to the metaphysical, making conventional human ability obsolete. Think this as a far-fetched idea? Think again. Trans-humanism: the philosophical movement that merges technology with humans, eventually leading to the next evolution in the human cycle. This evolution results in sophistically engineered posthumans. Once humans advance anatomically and neurologically beyond genotypical, and phenotypical patterns they can no longer be named as biological humans.

One area of the Trans-humanist progressive expansion lies in the field of Neurotechnology or Neurobionics. Neurotechnology: a set of instruments that analyze and influence the brain, and central nervous system in a desired effect. Neurochips, the silicon devices that are implanted inside neurons connected to the brain, allow brain manipulation. Transhumanist movements lead to neurological advancements in these neurochips. Despite its many possible advantages, disadvantages appear that could lead us into a negative technological singularity.

With progressive movements in Neurotechnology and Neurobioncs, many advantages for the neurologically impaired increase. New medical instruments are being created in areas of Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, and Neurotechnology to help those with neurological disorders in ways that were not previously open for patients before. Some of the possible advancements include nanomachines that interact with anatomical structures of the brain, which perform microsurgery inside the neural network system on cancerous cells, or damaged tissue.

Nanomachines, or nanites are submicroscopic robots that can perform medical functions within bloodstreams, or neurons of a living organism. This includes intracellular surgery on tumors, and the removal of clotted material in living cells. Nanites can store gigabytes of medical information on human anatomy to preform such task. ("Nanites"). Brain Interface Chips could be used as chips that link with the nanomachines using the Central Nervous System, and send messages and tasks to 'Task Forces' from the Command Chip which is linked directly to the Interface Chip. There will most likely be a neurochip that acts as a command and control chip which feeds information from the Central Nervous System to nanomachines, in the brain to carry out different task, such as destroying viruses, speeding up the healing process from different wombs and tissue in the brain; to detailed information from a database on human anatomy to perform microsurgery on areas such as the eyes, ears, and nerve repair.

"Aside from the more obvious tasks of destroying a virus, speeding the healing process from wounds, and taking out cancerous cells, the nanomachines would help in creating much healthier and fitter people for specific jobs such as astronauts, soldiers etc." It may even be possible to explore the brain and use the information to one day awakens the apparently dormant parts of the human mind. (Langley, Jason). If these nanomachines where to preform such complex task, they would have to have advance artifical intelligence; or intelligence that would require a task to be done by a human.

Different type of intelligence that would be incorporate into these machines would depend on the task it is carrying out. For example algorithms are certain rules to solve a problem, while heuristics are general steps that humans take in order to solve a problem without the knowledge of success; or trail and error type problem solving. One could assume that both of these methods would be incorporate into these nanomachines for advance problem solving abilities. (Levive, Talking Tech pg 49-50). Artificial intelligence in the neural network system allows for other technological advances such as nanobombs to blow up, and destroy tumors inside the nervous system on the submicroscopic level without human surgery. People with neurological diseases such as Cerebral Palsy can be treated with advance technological advances in neuroprothetics, with promising results from animal testing.("Neurobionics What The"). "Neurobionics has a future in neuroprothetics and robotics." ("Neurobionics What the"). Neurons are specialized cells that carry out messages through an electrochemical process throughout different regions of the brain. ("Types of Neurons"). Neurochips has a promising future for people with learning disabilities and neurological disorders. Neurochips can manipulate external mechanical devices such as a prosthetic arms, legs, and even paralyzed muscles. ("Foundation For People"). Neurochips stimulates single neurons, or group of neurons in the biological neural network system. Many great steps has been made in sensory substitution in recent years. Especially in areas in vision due to the increase knowledge of the visual system and eye implants. ("Brain Implant"). Sensory substitution is the principle that transform characteristic of one sensory modality into a stimuli of another sensory modality. ("Sensory Substitution"). Implantation of electrodes deep inside the brain can "recalibrate" areas of normal function by constant weak electrical simulation to certain areas for sensory modality. ("Trudeau, Michelle") This has important advantages for people with Alzheimer's disease, because silicon chips implanted inside the brain can mimic the hippocampus. The hippocampus is an area known in the brain for storing and creating memory. This chip could potentially aid people suffering from memory loss form new memories, and store old memories for longer periods of time. ("Sandhand, Lakshi"). Neurochips might also substantially increase the intelligence of mentally disabled people. The thought that people have would this new found freedom, could open up a virtual pandoras box of chaos which will be explained later. Other possibilities for paralyzed patients are neurosensors that would be connected by electrodes and fiber optics cable into the motor cortex which would allow that person to manipulate their electronic environment around them. Such as operating a computer by thought alone, turning on and off light switches in their house, to manipulating their oven's heat temperature. ("Brain Implants ..2").

If history shares any economic relationships with the past one may argue that those who foresee these changes and can ride the technological wave may have much to invest in. Biologist have came a long way achieving great success in the Human Genome Project, which has sped up sequencing of DNA by many magnitudes .According to Kurzweil an analysis of the history of technological evolution is exponential contrary to intuitive linear view. “So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century– it will be more like 20,000 years of progression.” (“Kurzweil”). The “returns” which involves microchip speed and cost-effectiveness also obeys this law, The Law of Accelerating Returns. Mathematically there should even be an exponential growth within the rate of exponential growth. Futurist predict that within a few decades machine intelligence or artificial intelligence will transcend human intelligence. Technological change would be so rapid, and significantly profound that it would forever change the fabric of human history. As discussed previously these changes include merges with biological and non-biological technology, and possibly ultra-intelligent software, and intelligence.

Mathematically exponential trends in the past were so flat that there appeared to be no trend. Lack of technological expectations have been fulfilled. Most long term forecast of technological feasibility in the future is underestimated in the power of evolutions. This is the paradigm based on intuitive linear view of technological progression rather than exponential historical view of technological progression. Kurzweil mathematically predicts that we will see 100 years worth of technological progression in 25 years. Rapidly accelerated technological progression and societal change due to the event of superhuman intelligence would change society in one night, more than society has changed in 1,000 years. This fast pace movement would be so advance, that whatever we predict to happen now in the pre-singularity age, will probably be surpassed in the post Singularity age due to smarter than human intelligence. The uncertainty in the direction of this technological progression is called Singularity.

"Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will end." ("Vinge, Vernor"). "The theory of transformation states that humans will incorporate AI into their own biology."("Artificial Intelligence Theory"). Neurochips implanted into the human mind, can increase intelligence far surpass any human on earth. With this intelligence, humans can create smarter than human intelligent supercomputers, and robots. In return these supercomputers, and robots can create smarter supercomputers and robots, and so on, and so forth, until humans become totally obsolete. This would steepen the have from the have nots. The upper class elite could increase their intelligence, and life years by artificial means, while the lower and middle class go without, which means they would become obsolete themselves causing societal problems. Genetically engineered posthumans or greater than humans would outclass, out smart, and out preform "normal" human intellect, and human ability. Another possibility in this singularity future is mind downloading, and uploading onto a supercomputer. Basically this allows a user to download their mind, and reconstruct it down to the single neuron onto an artificial hardware for a cloned brained of that user. Essentially creating many conscious minds, and possibly souls of the person.("Bostrom, Nick"). Doing so creates many bioethical, and societal problems. For example, Ray in the year 2055 downloads his mind onto a supercomputer creating an exact copy of his mind. Doing so creates two of the same Rays, both of them swearing they are the original Ray. Who would be the real Ray? What ethical laws does this create? Does this make the second Ray a real person, and a law abiding person, or entity? Should the second Ray [downloaded version] be treated the same as a human, is this Ray human? How will this effect the original Ray? Does the second Ray have a soul? What happens if someone else uploads this Ray into their body? Do they become the same Ray? Do they think the same way? Do they now have the same souls? ("Kadmon, Adam"). The questions that are brought up with Neurochips are its insidious usages. If a person with Alzheimer's disease is implanted with a chip that mimics the hippocampus then how will that person know that the memory they have is of their own? With the implanted Neurochip, could come implantation of false memories. Memories the person never had. This could be used for massive brain washing, political propaganda, assassinations, and cover ups. The person with this implanted chip, may not even own their own mind. These chips can alter emotions, and actions of the user against their own will for desired effects of an euphoric feeling. In a future scenario an unknown homeless person could be beaten up, have his memory erased, implanted with a neurochip, having fond memories of a family he never had. While in reality this person assassinated a prominent political leader with skill and knowledge that allowed him to do so inserted into his neurons; doing so he thought he was in a skiing trip in CO. with his unknown family, swearing he killed no one [a possibility].

Another possibility is that humans can be implanted with chips that has the internet, making our brains online. Allowing us to surf the web mentally, and commutate with other uses telepathically. Dangers of this would include the question would we even own our own brain at this time? Would we have to pay for our minds? What if our minds get a virus? Could someone hack into our brain, and steal our memories, knowledge, experience and IQ? What security measures would we have to pay the Federal Government to have firewalls, and anti-virus programs installed into our minds [technology joke]? If one chooses not to have this technological progression incorporated into their body would they be left behind? What kind of world would it be like if humans were genetically engineered into the very best posthumans society could produce? It would leave everyone else without these golden genetics behind. Foreign and domestic governments could use this technology to create a dystopian government system [humans are destructive remember]? A world government system that has eliminated war, crime, poverty, and depression by creating a homogenous high-tech society across the entire world and social system , based on the principles of a technological utopia that creates a society free of care.

The irony of this is, in order to achieve this utopia, many things will possibly be eliminated including "family, cultural diversity, art, literature, religion and philosophy." ("Brave New World"). This singularity and dystopian future could also put the inferior and elite in different caste systems. Creating inequality in our society, but achieving certain societal "goals". ("Brave New World"). The monster we create could be the monster that destroys us. "Humans are constrained to only a few types of change acceptable, although the rational parts of our mind often remind us that change can be good." ("Kadmon, Adam"). Even though this technology is a double edge sword, we have the choice to choose where it will lead our society, we can bring our society into singularity break down, or singularity posterity. The choice is ours.

"Ex machina Libertas" means technology will set you free. This means that rationally applied technology will improve human conditions. ("Slogans"). But on the other hand "Eritis sicut dii", means that you shall be as gods. Which is similar to Genesis 3:5 comparing the relationship between the snake, and Eve, with technology representing the neo-fruit of knowledge opening our eyes to both good and evil knowledge.("Slogans ..2"). Which makes it up to humans to decide if Transhumanist movements in Neurotechnology , and technology will lead our society into a horrific melt-down into a singularity.

Who are we? What do we want? What defines us? What is it that defines you? Besides the biological aspect, that makes us humans? Why is our species so special? What makes us special? Why do humans want to recreate themselves? What is so special about our culture, social aspect, and lives? Why do we want to create something better than ourselves? Why do we want to create something that would make our lives so easy that we would no longer have to do manual labor, and make all human ability obsolete? One must ask themselves would they like to live in a world that would be ruled by machines, and technology? If we are lucky nature will forgive us, and our higher species will put us into cages, and make us do tricks for treats.

Quantum Computing Gets Boost From 'Entanglement' Of Atom Pairs

Physicists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have taken a significant step toward transforming entanglement--an atomic-scale phenomenon described by Albert Einstein as "spooky action at a distance"--into a practical tool. They demonstrated a method for refining entangled atom pairs (a process called purification) so they can be more useful in quantum computers and communications systems, emerging technologies that exploit the unusual rules of quantum physics for pioneering applications such as "unbreakable" data encryption.


The NIST work, reported in the Oct. 19, 2006, issue of Nature,* marks the first time atoms have been both entangled and subsequently purified; previously, this process had been carried out only with entangled photons (particles of light). The NIST demonstration also is the first time that scientists have been able to purify particles nondestructively. Direct measurement would destroy the delicate entangled state of atom pairs; the new experiment gets around this problem by entangling two pairs of atoms and measuring only one pair.

Entanglement is a curious property of quantum physics that links the condition and behavior of two or more particles, such as atoms or photons. Entanglement can occur spontaneously when two atoms interact. For the initial interaction, the atoms have to be in close proximity, but the entanglement may persist even if they are physically moved apart. The quality of the entanglement can be degraded by many environmental factors, such as fluctuating magnetic fields, so the process and the transport of entangled particles need to be tightly controlled in technological applications. The purification process implemented at NIST can clean up or remove any distortions or "noise" regardless of the source by processing two or more noisy entangled pairs to obtain one entangled pair of higher purity.

"We demonstrated entanglement purification with relatively high success rates in an ion trap system that could be scaled up to build quantum computers of a practical size," says Dietrich Leibfried, an author of the paper and designer of the experiment. "It's a more complicated procedure than anything we've demonstrated before, and it will be useful in many contexts once we improve our purification procedures."

The NIST team used ultraviolet lasers to entangle two pairs of beryllium ions (electrically charged atoms) in an electromagnetic trap. A similar process was used to cross-entangle the entangled pairs--that is, to entangle each member of the first pair with its counterpart in the second pair. Then the first pair of ions was measured, and the results were used as an indication of whether the second pair (unmeasured, and thus with its quantum state intact) was entangled with higher purity. Additional tests were performed to verify that the quality of the entanglement had indeed improved.

The reported purification rate is a record (although the entangled state is not yet pure enough for use in a working computer or other device) with more than one success for every three attempts, compared to one in a million in the photon experiments. Theoretically, the NIST process could be enhanced and then repeated as many times as necessary to create a stream of near-perfectly entangled pairs in a computer or network. The NIST team's continuing research aims to substantially improve the purification operations through, for example, improved control of magnetic fields and laser intensity.

The same NIST group previously has demonstrated at a rudimentary level all the basic building blocks for a quantum computer, including key processes such as error correction and, most recently, a mass-producible ion trap. Ions are among the most promising of a dozen or so candidates for quantum bits (qubits) to store, manipulate, and transport quantum information.

Quantum computers, if they can be built, could break today's best public-key encryption systems, used to protect commercial communications. Quantum communications systems, if well designed, provide a new approach to "unbreakable" encryption to keep messages secret. Quantum computers also potentially could be used to optimize complex systems such as airline schedules, accelerate database searching, and develop novel products such as fraud-proof digital signatures.

Entanglement could have many uses in large quantum computers and networks. For example, it is required for "teleportation" of information (http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/teleportation.htm), a process that could be used to rapidly transfer data between separate locations in quantum computer, or to detect and correct minor operational errors (http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/quantum_computers.htm). Entangled photons are used in various forms of quantum cryptography, and are the clear choice for long-distance communication.

Purification is crucial because particles can be entangled initially only when they are close together, and the link degrades as the particles are moved apart. The NIST process could be used, for example, to purify entangled ions before transfer of information to photons in large networks. Most long-distance quantum communication schemes require data transfer from storage qubits to transport qubits. "If someone comes up with an interface for efficiently transferring information from ions to photons, then ions could be used for purification and photons for transport," Leibfried says.

Funding for the research was provided in part by the Disruptive Technology Office, an agency of the U.S. intelligence community that funds unclassified research on information systems.

More information about NIST research on quantum computers and communications is available at http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/quantum/quantum_info_index.html.

As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.

New Computer Program Prevents Crashes And Hacker Attacks

Today's computers have more than 2,000 times as much memory as the machines of yesteryear, yet programmers are still writing code as if memory is in short supply. Not only does this make programs crash annoyingly, but it also can make users vulnerable to hacker attacks, says computer scientist Emery Berger from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

With such problems in mind, Berger created a new program that prevents crashing and makes users safer, he says. Dubbed DieHard, there are versions for programs that run in Windows or Linux. DieHard is available free for non-commercial users at www.diehard-software.org.

Berger developed DieHard together with Microsoft researcher Ben Zorn. Berger has received a $30,000 grant from Microsoft, a $30,000 grant from Intel, and a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for his work on DieHard.

Almost everything done on a computer uses some amount of memory--each graphic on an open Web page, for example--and when a program is running, it is constantly requesting small or medium chunks of memory space to hold each item, explains Berger. He likens the memory landscape to a row of houses, each with only enough square footage for a certain number of bytes. The problem, says Berger, is that sometimes when memory real estate is requested, programs can unwittingly rent out houses that are already occupied. They also might request a certain amount of square footage when they actually need more, so an item can spill over into another "house." These mistakes can make programs suddenly crash, or worse.

"Ironically, crashing is the best thing that can happen," says Berger. "An overflow also can make your computer exploitable by hackers."

One way that the computer becomes more vulnerable results from the fact that "addresses" that are designated for a password, for example, will be on the same lot on the same street in every version of the program. So if a hacker overwrites a password, he or she can easily locate the password address on any of the umpteen versions of the program that are out there.

DieHard presents several remedies to such problems. First, it takes a compact row of memory buildings and spreads them around in the landscape. It also randomly assigns addresses--a password that has a downtown address in one session may be in the suburbs next time around. And in some versions of the program, DieHard will secretly launch two additional versions of the program the user is running--if a program starts to crash, that buggy version gets shut down and one of the other two is selected to remain open. DieHard can also tell a user the likelihood that they'll have been affected by a particular bug.

These problems wouldn't arise if programmers were a little less focused on speed and efficiency, which is rarely a problem these days, and more attentive to security issues, says Berger.

"Today we have way more memory and more computer power than we need," he says. "We want to use that to make systems more reliable and safer, without compromising speed."

The First Molecular Keypad Lock

How can defense or intelligence agencies safeguard the security of top-secret data protected by a computation device the size of a single molecule?

With cryptography approaching that sobering new era, scientists in Israel are reporting development of what they term the first molecular system capable of processing password entries. Abraham Shanzer and colleagues describe their "molecular keypad lock" in the Jan. 17 issue of the weekly Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Electronic keypad locks long have been fixtures on home security systems and other devices that require a password. The new study, however, describes a keypad lock based on molecules that fluoresce only in response to the correct sequences of three input signals.

"By harnessing the principles of molecular Boolean logic, we have designed a molecular device that mimics the operation of an electronic keypad, a common security circuit used for numerous applications in which access to an object or data is to be restricted to a limited number of persons," the researchers state. "The development of a molecular-scale keypad lock is a particularly attractive goal as it represents a new approach to protecting information at the molecular scale."

The researchers cite DNA-microdot encryption as a complementary approach, which in combination with their molecular lock might provide an unbreakable protection against forgery.

The First Molecular Keypad Lock

How can defense or intelligence agencies safeguard the security of top-secret data protected by a computation device the size of a single molecule?

With cryptography approaching that sobering new era, scientists in Israel are reporting development of what they term the first molecular system capable of processing password entries. Abraham Shanzer and colleagues describe their "molecular keypad lock" in the Jan. 17 issue of the weekly Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Electronic keypad locks long have been fixtures on home security systems and other devices that require a password. The new study, however, describes a keypad lock based on molecules that fluoresce only in response to the correct sequences of three input signals.

"By harnessing the principles of molecular Boolean logic, we have designed a molecular device that mimics the operation of an electronic keypad, a common security circuit used for numerous applications in which access to an object or data is to be restricted to a limited number of persons," the researchers state. "The development of a molecular-scale keypad lock is a particularly attractive goal as it represents a new approach to protecting information at the molecular scale."

The researchers cite DNA-microdot encryption as a complementary approach, which in combination with their molecular lock might provide an unbreakable protection against forgery.

Security That Nets Malicious Web Sites

Have you ever wondered how fraudulent or malicious websites can rank highly on search engines like Google or Yahoo?


Queensland University of Technology IT researcher Professor Audun Josang said a website's ranking was determined by the number of people who visited the site - the more hits the higher the ranking.

But this system is fraught with danger and can be easily manipulated directing people to unreliable, low quality and fraudulent sites, according to Professor Josang.

"Just because a website ranks highly on a search engine doesn't mean it's a good website, in fact highly ranked websites can be malicious websites," he said.

To safeguard against this type of threat, Professor Josang believes the answer is to develop a new type of internet security system based on "reputation" where a community of users can rank the quality of a website.

He said this could then be used to warn others from visiting that site.

"For example most people are able to recognise a website that tries to trick them into giving confidential information (a phishing attack) when they see it," he said.

"With this system, aware users can rate such websites as malicious and as a result a phishing site will be quickly and universally recognised as dangerous, warning unsuspecting users against visiting that site."

Professor Josang said using this "social control" approach could provide protection against this type of online threat, by preventing attacks before they occurred.

"Social control methods, also known as soft security, adhere to common ethical norms by parties in a community.

"They make it possible to identify and sanction those participants who breach the norms and to recognise and reward members who adhere to them."

Professor Josang said in today's technologically advanced world of business, high ranking of a company's web page was a crucial factor for its success.

"This is why the control of search engines is so important and why it can be financially worthwhile for businesses to manipulate the system."

The central idea of Professor Josang's research is to take search engines one step further and by using them to make the internet a safe place to interact and transact.

"This project is about a new type of internet security that can be supported by search engines. There is a deception waiting for you around every corner on the internet and the technology we develop will protect people from that.

"I think in the future reputation systems, integrated into search engines, can be used to weed out such websites by giving them a low ranking and thereby making them invisible to unsuspecting users."

FeedBack