But, really, who cared? I wasn’t headed to either Pittsburg or Chicago. For the first forty-some years of their existence, computers were mostly a cross between a gigantic adding machine and a high-speed filing cabinet. They were hardly life-changing. The most significant interaction with a computer that I remember from those days had to do with the computer punch cards used for college course registrations. Step on one of those with a golf shoe and you could find yourself assigned to a class in advanced astrophysics instead of “Rocks for Jocks.” The more interesting invention was connecting all those computers – the Internet. Whether the Internet was a good invention... Well, no invention or innovation is intrinsically good or bad. When cavemen discovered fire, the first thing they probably used it for was to cook – each other. I go back and forth on the virtues of the Internet. Sometimes, I am awed by my instantaneous access to enormous troves of important information. What was the name of the child actor who played Jerry Mathers’ pudgy best friend, Larry, on Leave It to Beaver ? Other times, I wonder whose idea was it to put every idiot in the world in touch with every other idiot? (By the way, Larry was played by Robert “Rusty” Stevens.) The Internet presents a variety of problems, some inherent, some external. And all the
problems also pertain to questions about cryptocurrencies. The Internet is a vulnerable system. Its integrity cannot be assured. This is not because of genius hackers or careless users. The vulnerability is more a matter of the “Infinite Monkey Theorem.” An infinite number of moneys hitting keys on a keyboard for an infinite amount of time will inevitably write the complete works of Shakespeare, not to mention crack your password (name of first pet plus high school locker combination). " People connected to the Internet now number 3.2 billion. And estimates of how much time they spend on the Internet per day range as high as 10 hours. Thus, in just one “Infinite Monkey Year,” you get 3.2 billion times 365 times 10, which may not equal infinity but it’s a big enough number to get the Infinite Monkey Theorem moving. Then there’s the vulnerable system behind the vulnerable system – the electrical grid upon which computer technology depends. I understand something about electricity. I understand I often don’t have any at my house. I live in a remote part of New England, up a big hill, way out at the very end of the power line. And anything will cause my power to go Whose idea was it to put every idiot in the world in touch with every other idiot?
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