tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post6275081450283665146..comments2023-10-30T04:16:25.917-04:00Comments on Sentient Developments: Turchin: SETI at risk of downloading a trojan horseGeorgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003484633933455827noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-39241284047626280752011-01-31T07:07:26.724-05:002011-01-31T07:07:26.724-05:00I would add that the full line of my argumentation...I would add that the full line of my argumentation could be found in my article:<br /><br />And the main risk is not exploitable file, like one of commenter thought, but the blueprint of a computer and a program for it which people will deliberately try to implement<br /><br />Risks of SETI<br />http://www.scribd.com/doc/7428586/Is-SETI-Dangerous<br /><br />Alexey TurchinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-11851679997650788272010-09-19T05:31:14.680-04:002010-09-19T05:31:14.680-04:00See also Lem's "His Master's Voice,&q...See also Lem's "His Master's Voice," and Benford's "Eater." The universe doesn't owe us explanations or benevolence, any more than it owes us a central position.<br /><br />That said, let's worry once we've an answer for the Great Filter.Jay Duggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10181402451119462976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-35731225883644787642010-09-19T01:51:12.914-04:002010-09-19T01:51:12.914-04:00I didn't really watch the video but it seems t...I didn't really watch the video but it seems to me either the very idea of this is stupid or else SETI is stupid. What, are people taking SETI data recordings and trying to run them as software? And if they are, then how likely is it that the aliens are specifically sending us programs which run on Windows or Unix or Mac OS or whatever?<br /><br />Even in the absolute worst-case scenario, that it's some sort of god file which can somehow exploit even the slightest security flaw to cause itself to be activated as a program even by software that isn't normally capable of doing such and then rewriting itself to function on any form of hardware imaginable without any advance idea of the system's operating codes, or even whether it uses binary or trinary or analog or whatever, then it can still easily be defeated by examining the data only on an isolated system: no connection to the internet or any other network whatsoever, and the isolated system is never used for anything except examining the SETI data.<br /><br />Tricking us into building something may be a concern, but that's not a scanning issue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-63586615186328935552010-09-18T20:43:18.129-04:002010-09-18T20:43:18.129-04:00Something like this was also hinted at in Arthur C...Something like this was also hinted at in Arthur Clarke's essay; "When the Aliens come."<br /><br />(Which can be found in the collection; 'Report on Planet Three,' 1972)<br /><br />Among other ways ET contact could play out, even a 'communication only' scenario could be dangerous, if they knowingly give us what we may not realize is dangerous information/directions. His simplified example:<br /><br />"And now kiddies, after you've prepared your uranium hexafluoride..."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-33677872463366671912010-09-18T19:14:16.309-04:002010-09-18T19:14:16.309-04:00By blocking out the evil aliens are we not also bl...By blocking out the evil aliens are we not also blocking out the benevolent aliens. Won't we create a situation much like the next harvest in Arizona.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05359058971952118907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-77289415435719580842010-09-18T09:58:43.875-04:002010-09-18T09:58:43.875-04:00The idea of a malicious download goes back to the ...The idea of a malicious download goes back to the BBC TV serial "A for Andromeda" co-written by Fred Hoyle in 1961. I thought then, and still think, that bandwidth issues make this very implausible. However there's no harm in thinking about it.David Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13590531184544289491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-81067483358145115162010-09-18T09:58:13.875-04:002010-09-18T09:58:13.875-04:00The idea of a malicious download goes back to the ...The idea of a malicious download goes back to the BBC TV serial "A for Andromeda" co-written by Fred Hoyle in 1961. I thought then, and still think, that bandwidth issues make this very implausible. However there's no harm in thinking about it.David Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13590531184544289491noreply@blogger.com