[cap-talk] Selling capabilities programming

[James A. Donald]

James A. Donald wrote:
 > > And to get back on topic, a similar problem is
 > > apparent in the discussions on capabilities
 > > programming, where people propose that a
 > > capabilities system should simultaneously achieve
 > > mutually conflicting goals, and that a capabilities
 > > system is broken if it does not achieve these goals.

David Hopwood
 > Which goals do you assert to be conflicting?

In the past on this list, when I made specific criticism
of people's favored brain children, I received responses
that were unlikely to lead to fruitful discussion, and
which did not lead to fruitful discussion.

So now, when someone with immense confidence and
certainty proclaims that a capabilities system must work
in such and such a fashion, I bite my tongue and remain
silent.

But I will repeat a general observation, applicable in
all such cases so far:

Imagine a real world system, in which your mother in law
is the system administrator and main user, and someone
in the Ukraine is trying to get control of people's
E-Trade accounts, so that they can use a bunch of other
people's trading accounts to execute a pump and dump
share scam.

Envisage the user interface for your scheme, and how
your mother in law is going to use it.

Those who refuse to consider realistic cases are never
going to heed or understand my criticisms.  Those who do
consider such cases will not need them.