Homeland
Insecurity
I just got forwarded
an article in the Atlantic about Bruce Scheier
where he correctly points out that the search for
fool-proof security technology is a
pointless quest for a non-existent Holy Grail and
encourages investigating the side effects of some
of our technological choices. The important themes
I liked from the article where- Wholeheartedly embracing
purely technological solutions can lead to
disaster when they fail if no backup exists. The
various calls for electronic voting mechanisms
especially after the
US 2000 Presidential Elections are a prime
example of this kind of disastrous
thinking.
- The most important
aspect of a security solution isn't how
impervious to attack it claims to be but how
resistant to compromise it is in the face of
failure.
The second theme is important in that it
correctly implies that a single
technological choice is not a sufficient
secure solution.
#Slavery
Reparations
Every once in a while something happens that
reminds me of how alike my dad and I are then I
begin to wish we had a closer relationship. The
recent
satire of the calls for slavery reparations on
K5 is something I completely agree with while
comments in favor of reparations make me
uneasy. Imagine my surprise to find out
my dad feels the same way which is surprising
since I remember him being in favor of it a few
years ago. We definitely need to talk more often
than we do. :(
Claiming to deserve reparations several years after
the fact when you've had the chance to better your
lot but have failed horribly (this goes for both
Africans and African Americans) seems like a rather
specious argument to me. I mean really, why does it
have to stop at black people? Following this logic
the native Americans should sue to get America
back. Then, of course, the black people would be
SOL (shit outta luck) because the the wealth has
been transferred to its
rightful owners who
happen to not have been slave masters.
#Pharmaceutical Companies
and Drug Marketing
I hate when things aren't black and white. On the
one hand I'm completely in favor of the current
state of drug patents because it enables
Pharmaceutical companies to recoup expensive
research costs. However, after talking to a few
insiders I heard that these corporations actually
spend more on marketing their drugs (all drug
marketing is ethically questionable IMHO) than
actual research. Here're some stats from this
month's issue of
Playboy
Original estimated profit from sales of Prozac:
$70 million
Actual revenue from Prozac: $3 billion in one
year at its peak
Annual amount spent marketting anti-depressants
to consumers: $200 million
Annual amount spent marketting anti-depressants
to doctors: $1.5 billion
#