Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas 238 | Scott Shapiro on the Technology and Philosophy of Hacking
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May 29, 2023 Scott Shapiro, a Yale law professor and philosopher, dives into the complex world of hacking and cybersecurity. He explains why creating unhackable computers is nearly impossible, highlighting the psychological vulnerabilities of users. The conversation spans historical hacking incidents, like the Morris Worm, and the eerie blend of philosophy and law that underpins hacking behavior. Shapiro also discusses the potential paths for young hackers, turning their skills away from crime and into positive cybersecurity careers. Intrigued? Tune in for a deep dive!
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Hacking's Inevitability
- Turing's principles for general computing, the equivalence of code and data, are exploitable by hackers.
- This fundamental link between computing and hacking makes unhackable computers impossible.
Code-Data Duality
- Turing discovered that code and data can be represented by the same symbols, leading to general-purpose computers.
- Hackers exploit this by sending code when the computer expects data, a core hacking method.
The Morris Worm
- Robert Morris Jr. crashed the early internet in 1988 with a worm, not a virus, as a grad student.
- This non-malicious act exposed vulnerabilities in the Unix operating system and was widely publicized.
