There was a time when finding your way required more than a signal. In the early years of my military service, I used a PLGR, a Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver. The name suggested something more refined than the device itself. It was large, deliberate, and slow to orient. Acquiring a signal could take time, and … Continue reading The Machines That Verify Us
Category: Trust
Reflections on the fragile but essential role of trust in social systems. These essays explore how communities, institutions, and relationships depend on shared confidence.
The Company One Keeps at the End of the World
There is a particular kind of question that appears harmless on its face and yet carries more weight than intended. The “zombie apocalypse” prompt is one of these. It is usually asked in jest, often answered quickly, and almost never revisited with any seriousness. Who are the three people you'd want at your side in … Continue reading The Company One Keeps at the End of the World
Three Lenses in a Noisy World: Building a Personal Method for Understanding the News
There is a quiet habit many of us carry without much thought. We wake, we check the news, and we assume that in doing so we are becoming informed. It feels responsible, even virtuous in a modest civic sense. A person who keeps up with events is, after all, a person who cares about the … Continue reading Three Lenses in a Noisy World: Building a Personal Method for Understanding the News
The Laws of Human Systems
Every profession accumulates its own small collection of proverbs. Sailors have sayings about wind and weather. Farmers accumulate aphorisms about soil and seasons. Soldiers develop blunt little rules about leadership and survival that rarely appear in official doctrine. Organizations produce their own proverbs as well.They often masquerade as jokes. Sometimes they appear as cynical observations … Continue reading The Laws of Human Systems
The Ecology of Trust: What the Internet Teaches Us About Trust and Civilization
Modern cybersecurity architecture begins with a curious assumption: trust is dangerous. Security frameworks associated with John Kindervag operate from a simple premise—no user, device, or system should be trusted merely because it appears familiar. Every request must be verified and every interaction authenticated. Anyone who has spent time working in cybersecurity eventually notices how easily trust assumptions … Continue reading The Ecology of Trust: What the Internet Teaches Us About Trust and Civilization
Information as a Weapon
Every semester in one of my cybersecurity courses, I assign my students a short article from 1997 titled Information as a Weapon1. After they finish reading it, I ask them a simple question: Is this article still relevant today? The reaction is usually predictable. The paper was written before social media, before ransomware gangs, before … Continue reading Information as a Weapon
