Charles Babbage famously said he’d been asked, “'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.” But what if you could put slightly correct figures in and still get the correct answer (or at least answers that appear to be the right ones)?
This talk explores a little-known phenomenon in the Pacific region, how Richard Feynman (mis)used the term to describe problems in science, its subsequent mutation into a computer science term, and how reliance on automated security tools and rituals parallels all of the above.
This talk was inspired by the history of the lock talk a few years ago at CarolinaCon. It’s designed to be infotainment and leave audience members a little more knowledgeable about the world as well as having food for thought on trying to help improve security practices. And might just give them what they need to win bar trivia one day.