19 Jan
2023
19 Jan
'23
11:19 p.m.
The era of general-purpose computers won't end.
The problem is that a great many single-purpose items are (and increasingly
will be), for reasons of scale/developer availability/familiarity,
general-purpose computers that come from the factory supposedly packaged to
do only one thing.
But all of them will have brains that will let them do arbitrary things.
Some of these things will be done at the behest of the organizations
controlling the society where the developers come from. Some of them will
be done at the behest of transnational organized crime rings. Some will be
done by enthusiasts. But I don't think we are too far from the world where
you can't trust your toothbrush unless you carved it yourself from a stick
with a knife that's been in your family for generations.
But really, this is all just "Reflections on Trusting Trust," which was,
what, 1984?