Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

[Responding to a list of places where "we went wrong" in the history of computing, with regard to the future of computer security...]

"Considering that viruses appear to be more common than bacteria, just as parasitic insects outnumber non-parasitic insects (actually, most species are parasites), I think that the Web is just imitating nature.

"If so, the solution isn't the mythical perfect architecture, it's to keep breeding systems that can resist various forms of computer bug.

"Breeding?

"Yep. That's one solution to the parasite problem: sex. Scramble the DNA/hard memory every generation, and hope that the scramble/mix and go form is a little less scammable than the previous generation. Imperfect replication seems to be nature's solution to the Black Swan problem of parasites, and it does have at least a billion years' track record.

"A totalitarian computer architecture? Not a good solution. After all, how many totalitarian regimes have proven totally resistant to corruption?"

-- heteromeles, 2010-08-21

[Heteromeles is far from the first to suggest a sex-and-evolution approach to virus- and worm-resistance, but the first and last paragraphs struck me as interesting.]