[conspire] Vinge (was Re: Scary Kaminsky News)

[Edward Cherlin]

On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 1:54 AM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
>> As suggested by Vernor Vinge in Rainbows End, and Charlie Stross in
>> Halting State?
>
> You know, I _still_ haven't read _Rainbows End._

I'm sure you'll like Rabbit. You might agree with the approval
accorded the Greatest Lesser Scouchamouch, too. There are a few
head--shake moments in and around the library, but if you wanted it
all to make _sense_ you wouldn't be reading these guys.

> _Halting State_ I have
> read, and it's howlingly funny.  I'll believe that bit about everyone's
> public keys being toast in the face of quantum computering clusters when
> it happens, though.

It's all right. Quantum computing offers very large polynomial time
reductions, but there are algorithms that require exponential (2^N)
time on conventional computers, and if that isn't sufficient, we can
go for 2^2^N or better. I'm sure we'll find a suitable quantum
trapdoor problem to base a new public key infrastructure on, once it
occurs to the right person that we need to look for such a thing.
There are algebraic structures that are much harder to factor than
mere integers, and other spaces that one might investigate.
-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay