It's nearly impossible to describe how absurd things are, unless you get it.

There is a big cognitive hump that needs to be overcome, and I fear that nobody is up to the task of guiding people over it. Even people who get it, in their minds, still don't get it in their hearts... it's that kind of weirdness that I'm on the other side of, in so many things lately.

Let me clue you in, if you dare to do a bit of intellectual hill climbing, so to speak.

Computers

We use computers to do everything, we trust them with our documents, our photos, or online experience of the present... yet the overwhelming evidence is that they will fail. We accept that the hard drive may go at any instant... or it might get hacked, or a virus, or will simply just never turn on again without explanation.  We treat them as magical devices, and computer repair people as wizards, who just happen to have skills that mere mortals don't possess.

We believe the persistent marketing myth that each version is somehow better than the past. Only the massive jarring cognitive dissonance of Windows 8 is even making a dent in this, and it's only to smooth the transition to a tablet based, cloud backed new world.

Now... there are several protections that readers of this will use to shield themselves, and their ego from seeing the absurdity of it all, so far (and there is more on the way).

Mac people will tell themselves that their machines are better, cooler, and don't get viruses. They have a special, well trained class of Wizard at their disposal (for the right amount of gold across the palm)... behold the Genius, and the Apple Retail Store. All problems can be solved by Apple....

Linux people will tell themselves that their knowledge is better, their code is free and open, and thus subject to non of the evil of Microsoft. Sure there are some tricks to learn, but freedom has its price.. and they've already paid it, and are willing to help you get free, breaking the chains of "the man".

Windows people just know that things break sometimes, and their friend, or shop, or someone can be paid enough to fix it. Besides, everyone wants to have a spiffy new machine after things get slow in a year or two... it's normal, right?  Nothings perfect, and they know better than to have foolish notions to the contrary.


If you made it this far, you think you understand the situation... but it's MORE ABSURD than that, far more. Everyone believes they can trust their computer, or understand its limitations. (For the reasons outlined above) There is a design flaw so deep into this picture, with such profound implications that if you don't already know what it is... you can't imagine it.

When you run a program on ANY of the above mentioned systems, you are REQUIRED to trust it completely. You really have no options in this matter. The actual underlying mechanisms at work are so fast, and beneath so many layers of abstraction, you can't possibly know exactly what is happening on your behalf. In the time you take to read this sentence, your computer has run over 1 billion operations. Nobody can check all the lines of code, on all the layers, to know whats going on. (Ok.. so the NSA might know, collectively, but no single person in there does)

There is NO person on earth who can walk you down all the layers and show you every single line of code. I just found out about a few more layers myself yesterday. (Did you know SD cards have multiple microprocessors in them?   I didn't)

So, on this unknowable, unreliable, 20 (a guess on my part) layer deep sandwich of stuff, we still get a failure rate that is amazingly GOOD. Its entirely possible to have a computer perform what you want, for 10 years straight. (Especially if not connected to the internet)

The engineering is incredible, even on the cheapest piece of junk..It is always impressive to me to behold. Moore's law has served us very well indeed.

But... there's that flaw...

When you run a program... you are REQUIRED to trust it completely... which is nuts. The whole system could work almost exactly the same way (as far as actually using it), and wouldn't cost more, and you could throw that requirement straight out the door.

Why do you care?

Because if you didn't have to trust the programs you run... the world would be a little more efficient. (Not much, not enough to really notice).  Your computer would be a little more reliable, outside hardware failures... enough you might notice. Your computer wouldn't ever get a virus again.... which you would only notice years later.

So, nothing much to see here... just move along, right? After all, there is no noticeable difference.

If you are happy with having your computer subject to the whim of the NSA, and every hacker on the planet (like it is right now, no matter who you are)... keep being happy, have a nice life.

If you would rather have a computer that acts as stable as a hammer, or drill press, or rolling pin... read on...

When you run a program, the computer should ask (or infer) what you are willing to trust it with. Right now the model is to allow the program to do anything possible, on your behalf.  It doesn't have to be that way. When you run a word processor, the operating system (and not the program) should as what file you wish to work on. In most cases, you wouldn't even notice the difference which layer of things were asking for what, so it wouldn't require any change on your part.

But... then the word processor couldn't run that Macro virus that sucks up your email addresses, and just set it to some far corner of the globe.

That web page couldn't just grab your Quicken data and encrypt it, and demand a ransom.

That web page couldn't just be subverted by the NSA to run something they want installed.

You would actually have control over things... as flawed as the 20 layer sandwich is... you would still have some pretty damned good control over it.  You wouldn't have to run a virus scanner. You wouldn't ever have hackers take over your machine. You could surf the internet without fear. You could even download and install any program you damned well please, and it would either work for you, or you'd get rid of it.

No fear
No viruses
No NSA/FBI spy shit.

It's called Capability Based Security... and it works.


Credit Cards

Credit cards in the US are about as absurd as the computer situation. Here the oligarchy of card companies insist that its perfectly reasonable to have a 16 digit number (oh... 19 now with the code on the back) and your name be the only thing stopping some random hacker from taking your money. This is 1960s level technology, and it's stupid beyond belief.

We could instead have cards that generate a one time number that a store could use one time only.. to handle transactions.  We could have a Visa/Mastercard/Amex site we log into that gives us a longer number to copy/paste for transactions on the internet that would be one time use. ANY competent web site guru could set up such a site for them, and it would be a mere pittance in terms of cost to them... it would cut fraud massively because stolen one time numbers have ZERO value... zip, zilch, nadda.

We don't do this, and instead have to hire companies to watch our credit scores, check every statement carefully, and waste massive amounts of resources, so the credit card oligarchy doesn't have to change out anything this year, and affect this quarters results. (Never mind the massive potential savings in a year or two).

Again... it's massively screwed up, and yet we live with it.

Health Care

We accept the paper forms, endlessly filled out, as the way things are done. We don't want electronic records, because they might be hacked, or might be used against us.

How could they be used against us?  #1 in my book is by insurance companies to deny coverage and save themselves money.  If we got rid of insurance companies... that would save us all money.

Why not Federalize (or have the States do it) health care?  Instead of giving a massive payout to insurance companies, why not take the money we already spend, and just help people be well?

It would cost less (YES, LESS) that we already spend to give everyone the best level of care. It would also eliminate the #1 cause of  bankruptcy in the USA.

Electronic records would be more accurate, because they history would be cumulative and objective, not based on the things you can remember under duress in the Emergency Room.

Big Pharma

And then there's the whole Big Pharma, prescription drug thing. We want Big Pharma to come up with well tested, life saving drugs... and for a long time they did a good job. Lately, though, they've been more worried about profits, and have resorted to gaming the system to sustain them.

They engage in all sorts of tricks to extend the patent dates on medicines, and hold off the wave of money saving generics, costing us all the billions that they then claim as profit.

They have resorted to marketing antibiotics as a way to make our food slightly cheaper, and in the process effectively destroying our ability to have antibiotics that actually... save lives.

It's messed up... really messed up. There are many more ways the world is messed up... I'm waiting to hear what other people care to share.

Thanks for letting me rant... good night, Internet. See you tomorrow.