Shellshock

Worse than Heartbleed

"Many eyes" can't see straight

As I've read the story of Cliff Stoll, my mind has turned to the topic of computer security. Just last Wednesday, there was a huge bug discovered in the Bash Shell that virtually every computer running Linux is vulnerable to. The exploit has been categorized as being worse than the Heartbleed bug that received international attention earlier this year. As described in the article, Heartbleed allowed attackers to get sensitive information such as "encryption keys or passwords", but the Shellshock bug "allows an attacker much more power. They can use it to take complete control of a system even without having a username and password". As I thought about this, the first question that came to my mind was:  how is this possible? how can holes in security like this be overlooked? Being a free and open source project, many people believed the idea of "many eyes" would apply to this software, but as we have seen, this a bug that has survived for more than two decades since Bash's conception in 1989. Clearly, the way we test and prevent bugs is not perfect, and can greatly be improved upon, and after these two incidents this year I believe that it is something that we as programmers need to direct our attention towards.

The Gospel will fll the Earth

I do believe, as is discussed in class, that many of the technological advancements of our day have been inspired by God. Not only are these innovations improving and enhancing our lives, but more importantly, these changes are allowing for the Gospel to be spread in all the world. I personally loved the address given by Elder David B. Haight, which illustrates another way in which technology has allowed us, the members of the Church, to contribute to the building of the Kingdom of God through family history. When I think about it, I can clearly see all the pieces that God has slowly put together to facilitate this work: with the advent of computers and the internet, absolutely anyone with the desire, a computer and the internet can do family history work anywhere. This is so exciting to think about! We no longer need to go to a family history center, we no longer need to peruse through endless files in search names, but now we can with some little typing find the information of our ancestors from our homes, and share all this data with millions of members all around the world, which in turn will also help build our own genealogy. Now, what does this mean to us? Is this not the time which has been appointed to us? Is this is not the time in which the Lord has made this task the most accessible for his children? I believe this is something serious for all of us to think about and to act upon, for in the last day we shall be accountable for it.

What are we yet to create?

Painting in virtual reality

While watching "The Triumph of the Nerds", I couldn't help but notice that the introduction of new technologies always brought an explosion of new ideas and creations, many of which changed the course of human history. In my previous blog post, I explored a little bit the topic of Virtual Reality, on how in the near future I think that this new technology is going to greatly affect the lives of everyone. Now, I ask myself: who is going to benefit from this new technology? Who are the people that are going to exploit this new technology? What kind of new creations are we going to see spring from it? What kind of new experiences are we going to be able to have? The article linked in this blog post shows one of the many ways in which VR is already igniting an explosion of creativity. I strongly believe that with VR, just like the video shows in the link, that new ways to express ourselves will emerge and also new ways to create content that can touch human lives in way that no other technology can do right now. This is very exciting to think about, and it is even more exciting to know that any software developer that so desires can begin to contribute and tinker with this new technology right now. Thinking about this, I can't help but wonder what the world will be like in a few couple years.

The Next Big Thing

Oculus Rift and Virtual Reality
Another article on its potential changes

In class, we recently studied many of the different repercussions that come from introducing new technologies into society. We talked about how technology changes society and how in turn we as a society influence technology. Also, one of the most significant points that we discussed was that, ultimately, there is always a price to be paid when we adopt new technologies. The world has changed drastically since the introduction of the Internet, and many of the changes that came with it are still rippling and evolving in our present time. More recently, smartphones and tablets were introduced into society, and their effects in society are largely noticeable: the way we work, the way we learn, the way interact with friends, family and work, it all has been changed by this new medium (which is driven mostly by the internet). So, I ask myself: what technologies are in the horizon that could once again change drastically the world? My attention turns to the Oculus Rift, a piece of hardware and software that will make virtual reality (VR) a reality in our homes. It is important to notice that the giant Facebook recently purchased this project, and with its introduction slated for 2015, I feel that once again there could a be revolution in the way we interact with people all over the world. Not only has Facebook jumped into this bandwagon, but Sony as well by unveiling earlier this year it's own VR headset, code named Project Morpheus. Also, just a few weeks ago, a partnership between Samsung and Oculus was announced to bring virtual reality to the mobile world. VR will bring with it a tidal wave of changes if the way we interact and perceive the world: video games in which your are inside the game, talking with people as if we where in the same room, shopping while seeing and manipulating an object as if it was in front of us, "surgery simulators are just a few years away, and medical students or even hobbyists (...) could poke and prod to their heart’s desire", just to list a few of its countless applications both in entertainment and in the business world. With this tide of revolutionary changes on the way, I also ask myself: what price will we pay once we adopt this new technology? what does it mean for video game addiction? what does it mean for pornography addiction? what does this mean for human interaction? I even wonder: will VR introduce new issues that we didn't initially anticipate?

Be prepared to be wrong

I thought the video that was shown in class was very interesting. I felt that many of the things that the speaker talked about were indeed true. Nevertheless, the phrase that had the most impact on me was: “be prepared to be wrong”. When I think about how a creative idea takes form, it almost always assuredly comes with risks; therein I think the counsel to be prepared to be wrong comes in. To me, being creative is trying out new things, trying things that are innovative and unheard of, novel in nature, and useful both for the individual and for everyone else and, therefore, there is always the question whether our creative endeavors are indeed valuable, or even novel. Sometimes we shrink away from our ideas for the fear that they might be deemed of little value, or that they won’t be appreciated, maybe we even doubt whether it is creative at all, and we worry about what others might think. The speaker related this mostly to the field of the arts, but I think this principle can be applied in every other single field of knowledge and learning; we can find creativity everywhere, and often I have seen that people that are successful in their fields has a lot to do with their potential and ability to be daring and courageous when it comes to creativity. So, echoing the words of the speaker, I believe we should to a certain extent, foster always an atmosphere in which people can bring out the best of themselves through their ideas, and not squander them, or squander ourselves. We will not always be successful but then again there are always things to learn from our defeats.