[cap-talk] prescriptions for computers

[John Carlson]

Bear with me in this thought experiment for a while.
Say a subject is a pill, and taking the pill grants the pill
the authority to access your body, your brain, your cells,
etc.  The pill needs capabilities to be digested, to enter
the bloodstream, and to pass through the blood brain
barrier.  Say the pill also had the capability to modify
your DNA.  Assume this is all for your good.

Now switch back to the computer world.  Would you
put the equivalent of that pill into your computer?  Would
you feel comfortable knowing that the pill could modify
your firmware, OS and potentially even hardware?
Would you trust the source of the pill?  Would you trust
the authorities that said the pill was good for you?

I would feel much more comfortable if the pill came
with a long list of side effects and things to look out for
(a long license?).  Do people read these things?

Do we need the equivalent of clinical trials for the
computer world?  Do we need an authority to designate
that a piece of software is safe for your computer?
Do we need access control lists (prescriptions)
such that only certain computers can use pieces of
software?  Do we need to know about software/
software interactions?  Do we have/need the
equivalent of doctors and pharmacists for the
computer world?

As software and hardware becomes more complex,
will this become more important?  Will computers
become even more personal, such that software
that works on one computer would certainly break
another computer?

Are we ready for this?

Now back to the medical world.  What if your
body could inspect the pill to see if the capabilities
contained in the pill were consistent with the body's
DNA?  In other words, the DNA could figure out
whether to enable the capabilities that the pill
has.   We wouldn't need clinical trials, because the
DNA would only allow things into the blood stream
that passed its checks.  It would effectively destroy
everything else.

Could we design DNA that did this for everything
that entered our bodies?  Should we redesign
the human DNA?  Is the above something feasible for
DNA to do?  If DNA did it then it would be much
cheaper to produce medications.

We're moving closer to where computers will
require frequent updates, perhaps monthly of the
software running on computer.  Is this the
equivalent of going down to the drug store
to pick up a monthly supply of medications,
along with a copay?

Maybe people on this list should think about
starting eHMOs.

I don't see any server behind http://www.ehmo.com

John