[LINK] Perspective on security! [was: Security efforts hindered by untrained users]

[Stilgherrian]

On 31/1/08 11:32 AM, "Stephen Wilson" <swilson at lockstep.com.au> wrote:
> Jeez ...
> 
>>> it's like their brain just switches off - they've made the decision that
>>> it's too hard or too much effort (or that it's "easier" to get someone
>>> else to do it for them) and they revert to being a pathetic, helpless
>>> child.
>> 
>> Yes, noticed this too. I think there must be some fundamental brain
>> mechanism at work here -- the equivalent of rabbits freezing in the
>> headlights, maybe?
> 
> I'm surprised by the naked contempt displayed in many of these comments
> for regular computing users.  Even the self-evident jokes in this thread
> drip with sarcasm reflecting an unhelpful air of superiority. [snip]

Stephen, just to be clear, I'm actually agreeing with you on this issue --
and was also considering using the early auto industry as an analogy (but
got distracted by some other things before writing).

I'm not sure whether you *intend* to group me with the contempt-showers, but
since your comment comes immediately after quoting a paragraph I wrote, I'm
worried that you are. I'd therefore like to repeat an earlier paragraph I
wrote:

> If perfectly intelligent people have trouble with the technology, then it's
> our fault for making poor technology, our fault for not training them, and our
> fault for alienating them by calling them idiots.

As for the rabbit-in-spotlight comment... I've actually seen this. A dialog
pops up and people do literally freeze in place, completely unsure as to
what to do next. So frozen, in fact, that they don't think to read the words
in front of them.

(Of course it doesn't help if the words are meaningless to them.)

And I stress again, some fundamental human mechanism must be at work here --
which we need to understand to move forward.

While I did make a tongue-in-cheek comment about "natural selection in
action", I do wonder whether there might not be some truth in this. Our
brain is a wonderfully complex thing, and while to you and me it might look
like undifferentiated slush, perhaps there are different structures in
different people. Could not we see the emergence of brains which can better
handle many, short-duration inputs (from watching TV or many data inputs on
a computer screen), or more abstract concepts (ditto) rather than being able
to react to a pouncing tiger?

I don't see this as being any more critical of people as humans than saying
some people have evolved to have more melanin in their skin because of the
environment their ancestors grew up in.

Possibly I have over-reacted to your comment. But it did come after quoting
me, so...

Stil


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