Barry_Cotter comments on How To Be More Confident... That You're Wrong - Less Wrong

24 Post author: Wei_Dai 22 May 2011 11:30PM

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Comment author: Barry_Cotter 23 May 2011 10:09:53AM 4 points [-]

Cryptography has mailing lists, and hobbyists, and open source influences, and IRC channels. You, as a rank beginner, are not going to get to a level where you can design a crypto scheme that a dilletante hobbyist with the equivalent of a few university courses, and a lot of time can't beat. Not in a few days, probably not even if you're Terry Tao.

Comment author: calef 24 May 2011 02:23:38AM *  1 point [-]

I disagree. It's actually remarkably easy to create for all intents and purposes (barring the resolution of several outstanding problems in cryptography and computer science) impossible-to-break cryptography schemes if you know anything about RSA, lattice methods, etc.

Unless "a lot of time" means the age of the universe (precluding functional quantum computers before then).

Comment author: ciphergoth 27 May 2011 04:10:39PM 1 point [-]

I see a lot of broken systems designed by people who've read Applied Cryptography.