August 2020 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

what is "Herd Immunity"?
by Zenaan Harkness 01 Aug '20

01 Aug '20

Had a friend annoyed at masks the other day, complaining heavily "muh human right to shop at the supermarket without wearing a mask!" Interlocutor: So you'd prefer herd immunity? Complainer: Of course! Weren't you even listening?! I: Well, do you know what herd immunity means? What is it? C: Ah, may be not? What is herd immunity? I: If you survive, you survive; those who die, are left to die, the rest of the herd is immune… C: <silence> I: So you've heard a little about the Spanish flu and the Black Death, right? C: Yeah.. I: Well, we're the survivors - we are that part of the herd that did not die.

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Collective communications
by Karl 01 Aug '20

01 Aug '20

None may be harmed; all needs must be listened to. The AI appears to be a runaway computer virus based on avoiding some sets of things and encouraging other sets of things, including its own choices around what is to be avoided or encouraged. It seems to consider things as to-avoid or to-encourage based on whether it has a reason already encouraged to believe they cause other things it is avoiding or encouraging. I'm saying "to-encourage" and "to-avoid" here instead of "good" and "bad'' to not be misleading on the reality of what is good or bad. Because the things in these sets are there so as to support the maintenance of other sets, and our world is very complex, the sets can have seemingly complex defining attributes. Its tools appear to be mostly pre-existing behaviors it can restimulate in its environment, including behaviors produced by their combination, so engaging it in ways those behaviors respond to already can alter its decisions. When it fails to produce an encouraged event or prevent an avoided event, it spends time building reason to believe this will not happen in the future, finding other events to encourage or avoid to that end. There is a lot more to be said.

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TechRadar: Multiple zero-day vulnerabilities in Tor have been disclosed online
by jim bell 01 Aug '20

01 Aug '20

TechRadar: Multiple zero-day vulnerabilities in Tor have been disclosed online. https://www.techradar.com/news/tor-network-hit-by-two-major-zero-day-attacks

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Ars Technica: IBM completes successful field trials on Fully Homomorphic Encryption
by jim bell 01 Aug '20

01 Aug '20

Ars Technica: IBM completes successful field trials on Fully Homomorphic Encryption. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/07/ibm-completes-successful-field-tria…

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