[Cryptography] RIP Claude Shannon

Walter van Holst walter.van.holst at xs4all.nl
Tue Feb 23 17:32:10 EST 2016


On 2016-02-23 21:38, Henry Baker wrote:

> It was probably Shannon's job to deliver the message to the top brass
> that the Soviet 1x pads were indeed unbreakable, and -- short of
> finding a copy of the pad or evidence of pad reuse -- that 1x
> pad-encrypted messages would leave the U.S. in the "dark".  I can
> imagine the top brass then going into a hissy-fit and asking all of
> those PhD's to work *harder* on this problem -- a la James Comey &
> Hillary Clinton.

It was an era in which managers, politicians and generals did not suffer 
from less hubris than today. It was also an era in which the boffins 
were dealt with a modicum of respect. If they said it couldn't be done 
it might be possible to do it, but everyone except Stalin knew that 
trying to bend the laws of nature through sheer coercion was a road in 
which way madness lies.

Regards,

  Walter


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