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Hackers' Next Target — Your Brain?
Hugh Pickens writes "Wired reports that as neural devices become more complicated — and go wireless — some scientists say the risks of 'brain hacking' should be taken seriously. '"Neural devices are innovating at an extremely rapid rate and hold tremendous promise for the future," said computer security expert Tadayoshi Kohno of the University of Washington. "But if we don't start paying attention to security, we're worried that we might find ourselves in five or 10 years saying we've made a big mistake."' For example, the next generation of implantable devices to control prosthetic limbs will likely include wireless controls that allow physicians to remotely adjust settings on the machine. If neural engineers don't build in security features such as encryption and access control, an attacker could hijack the device and take over the robotic limb." Relatedly, several users have written to tell us that science may be closer to the science fiction "mind wipe" than previously thought. Put this all together and I welcome the next step in social networking; letting the cloud drive my limbs around town via a live webcam and then wiping the memory from my brain. Who has MyLimb.com parked and is willing to deal?
Richard B. Cheney.
Surely, you hackers are able to find, detain, and deliver Cheney to The Hague.
Yours In Democracy,
Kilgore Trout
You remember incorrectly. The purpose of receipts is so that they can verify that you have purchased the merchandise in your cart on exiting the store. Forcing you to do so before exiting is rather draconian, but they have every right to do so, should they choose.
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On behalf of several members of the community, I would like to express my shock and disappointment at some of Richard B Cheney's epigrams. For openers, Cheney has no fixed ethical principles. I challenge him to move from his broad derogatory generalizations to specific instances to prove otherwise. I try never to argue with him because it's clear he's not susceptible to reason. I am hurt, furious, and embarrassed. Why am I hurt? Because Cheney frequently engages in violent fantasies involving abysmal ninnies. That concept can be extended, mutatis mutandis, to the way that if you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem. Why am I furious? Because I've heard him say that children don't need as much psychological attentiveness, protection, and obedience training as the treasured household pet. Was that just a slip of the lip, or is Cheney secretly trying to permit nettlesome ratbags to rise to positions of leadership and authority? I'll tell you what I think the answer is. I can't prove it, but if I'm correct, events soon will prove me right. I think that he is careless with data, makes all sorts of causal interpretations of things without any real justification, has a way of combining disparate ideas that don't seem to hang together, seems to show a sort of pride in his own biases, gets into all sorts of unpleasant speculation, and then makes no effort to test out his speculationsâ"and that's just the short list! And why am I embarrassed? Because his prophecies are geared toward the continuation of social stratification under the rubric of "tradition". Funny, that was the same term that Cheney's lackeys once used to cause an increase in disease, nepotism, crime, and vice.
By writing this letter, I am really sticking my head far above the parapet. The big danger is that Cheney will retaliate against me. He'll most likely try to force me to have a nervous breakdown although another possibility is that he is secretly planning to cause unholy subversion to gather momentum on college campuses. I realize that that may sound rather conspiratorial and farfetched to most people, which is why you need to understand that if Cheney thinks that he can make me lose heart then he's barking up the wrong tree. It is no accident that the cure for corruption, conspiracy, and treason must start by exposing the problem to people who care and are not themselves corrupted. History offers innumerable examples for the truth of this assertion.
Cheney will spew forth ignorance and prejudice long before he can convert me into one of his zealots. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Of course, if Cheney had learned anything from history, he'd know that if I withheld my feelings on this matter, I'd be no less tactless than Cheney. We can say that a necessary first step towards recovery is to look at Cheney with new eyes, unclouded by a lifetime of false information and deception propagated by picayunish drug lords, and Cheney can claim the opposite, and it won't make one bit of difference. I want to give people more information about Cheney, help them digest and assimilate and understand that information, and help them draw responsible conclusions from it. Here's one conclusion I undoubtedly hope people draw: Cheney's allegations are like a Hydra. They continually acquire new heads and new strength. The only way to stunt their growth is to strip the unjust power from those who seek power over others and over nature. The only way to destroy his Hydra entirely is to provide more people with the knowledge that Cheney is totally reprehensible. We all are, to some extent, but he sets the curve.
In a sense, if we are to place a high value on honor and self-respect, then we must be guided by a healthy and progressive ideology, not by the churlish and heinous ideologies that Cheney promotes. We must provide a trenchant analysis of his conclusions. This is a terrible and awesome responsibilityâ"a crushing responsibility. However, if we stick together we can can show the world that I do n