iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 04/10/2026

I heard one presentation: I am not Ross Douthat, nor do I recall mention of atheism therein. Reading further, negative atheists appear to draw odd internal divisions. It's okay to say you don't know (or believe), but I find it helpful to share what you do know. God is real and loves you, His child.

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 03/10/2026

I was thinking of getting one of those rings made for myself. Happy to swear the oath - already live by it. Concerned it might offend some physical engineers though. My work can harm lives if misused though. The physical reminder seems valuable still, even for us Software Engineers.

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 03/10/2026

Elder Christofferson spoke out against #gambling. He included #predictionmarkets in what he characterized as gambling. #GeneralConference #ChurchofJesusChrist

020

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 03/10/2026

Interesting. I had understood atheism to be a positive belief ("I claim God/magical spirits/etc do not exist"), but saying instead "I'm uncertain but lean negative" appears to qualify as "agnostic atheism". On the same axes I'm a "gnostic theist". May you resolve your uncertainty some time.

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 02/10/2026

From what little I've seen of "christian" nationalism, it appears to be evil - and irrelevant to the points. Re points "debunked", yes there are counterarguments to each, as he outright stated; I know several. Atheism also requires a Leap of Faith, as noted in the Bob Bennett book of that name.

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 30/09/2026

Great forum address yesterday. Ross Douthat gave 3 + 1 reasons for being religious. Fine-tuned physical constants, Consciousness is still unexplained, and Religious beliefs persist despite secularization. #God is an efficient explanation for all together. The fourth: #religion gives moral direction.

speeches.byu.edu

Why Everyone Should Be Religious

As we come to understand more about the world we live in, we can see more clearly that it must have a divine Creator.

110

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 24/09/2026

I'm not very worried about an #AI intelligence explosion. I judge unsupervised self-improvement as highly unlikely near term. Even if compute keeps up (Moore's law is slowing), infrastructure is showing strain (power grid). Budgets also can't double much longer. I look forward to efficiency gains.

021

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 14/09/2026

I had a recent conversation where someone struggled to identify a word to express a concept they had. Linguistic determinism is false. It is akin to saying humans cannot imagine or draw something they've never seen. Yet, artists have for millennia. The words for "thought" postdate thought.

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 14/09/2026

It's literally a bit more than just remembering words. The mixing step ("attention" - I found www.3blue1brown.com/lessons/atte... useful) is genuinely fascinating. I took a ML course in 2005, and neural nets were useless past a few layers. Attention changed that by sandwiching layers.

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 04/09/2026

As a #security practitioner, I feel it is crucial that I cultivate user #trust that any prohibitions I must issue are necessary and reasonable - that means sometimes not maximizing the "security dial" to improve _actual security_. #usablesecurity

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 04/09/2026

#Reinvented the approximate counting #algorithm today, when thinking about how to prevent #DoS by resource exhaustion when a small device is flooded with attacks, without ignoring their presence. Nice.

en.wikipedia.org

Approximate counting algorithm - Wikipedia

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 03/09/2026

Saw a #chiropractor today about an arm and a leg. I was disappointed this visit was around half #woo, and the musculoskeletal part caused minimal improvement. Second time in around 20 years; not sure there's any value to making a third attempt. The previous one at least eschewed woo.

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 28/08/2026

Gave a good presentation at #SOUPS2026 on behalf of my excellent labmate, the first author. Really sad he wasn't able to attend himself due to US policy changes making international travel impose too great a risk of disrupting his studies. www.usenix.org/conference/s...

usenix.org

Passkeys in the Wild: A Systematic Study of FIDO2 User Experience Consistency Across Websites | USENIX

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 20/08/2026

Today seems to be a big day for leaps of #faith. I #trust that everything will work out as it should, but that doesn't fully resolve the #uncertainty of the future. #God is real and involves Himself in the details of our lives. This makes #change #easier, not #easy.

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 12/08/2026

In computer #security, attackers often need just one gap; defenders need to guard them all. Common solutions: fewer ways in, and shared #knowledge. Defender #transparency - sharing code and techniques - benefits defenders more than attackers. Short #secrets have value, but #openness wins over time.

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 06/08/2026

If you have done so, please return and #apologize for falsely accusing the individual of #bigotry. Such accusations are not consequence-free; they cause internal emotional pain and can cause severe external consequences. They damage your own #cause by harming #allies.

001

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 06/08/2026

#PSA please do not call someone a #bigot and storm out lest you reveal your own #bigotry against people who aren't #virtuesignaling enough as having compatible beliefs. #homophobia #transphobia #ai #generativeai #racism #vegan #environmentalism #partypolitics #religion #cancelculture #intolerance

110

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 26/07/2026

Took a #nap after #Church. Woke from a #dream where I was evangelizing #podman to my labmate. I was saying "it's so easy, you should try it!". Especially #funny since I was reluctant to use podman up until a couple years ago, sufficiently happy with packer/vagrant. #devops #technology

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 20/07/2026

Had a thought while walking with my 11 year-old #dog the other day. His "get up and go" has mostly gotten up and went. #aging #age #old

001

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 14/07/2026

Your knowledge of an issue is not universal. I've now learned more - #Substack has a reasonable position. Those calling to #boycott do too. But I worry that social pressure is prone to becoming similar extremism (cf "The Day The Nazi Died" outro). A #legislative change would fix Substack and others.

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 14/07/2026

I've seen more focus on #characterization and side plots than before. My understanding is that authors believe that's what readers want - and certainly I see a _lot_ of negative feedback on works that don't provide. Personally I like stories focused on interesting ideas more. But, not mass market.

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 13/07/2026

Likely comes from choice to have a small standard library, excluding things like `left-pad`. Reimplementing things is bad, so pull what you need. But, you end up with a mix of overmodularization (left-pad) and large dependencies (express) which require everything for simple tasks (just in case).

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 13/07/2026

Some #rules are #convention, some are natural law. Breaking the former can be #innovative. Breaking the latter usually #fails (unless supported by another natural law). I like to learn which is which - people say to "know the rules before you break them". #education

020

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 07/07/2026

"If I had a nickle for every time" I was accused by my ISP of illegal filesharing, "I'd have two nickles - which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice." Both times the ISP realized they contacted the wrong IP.

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 05/07/2026

I am #grateful for religious #liberty, and #pray that it may be strengthened throughout the world. I know that Jesus Christ lived, died, resurrected, and lives today. I endorse religious #freedom for those who do not share my beliefs. May we all support one another in free exercise of conscience.

020

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 26/06/2026

I love the meme sign "Warning: This #Machine Has No #Brain. Use Your Own". I think for #GenAI #AI #LLM writing, we should adapt it: "Warning: This Machine Has No #Taste. Use Your Own". They charge blindly ahead on whatever path they've randomly chosen. Users MUST guide them, or suffer bad output.

A yellow caution sign with the text "Warning: This Machine Has No Taste. Use Your Own".

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 25/06/2026

To answer "why would you ever want to decrease #security, and be merely sufficient?": security can always grow, but generally imposes a #usability burden. The value of security operates on thresholds (can/can't; often linear until exceeding reasonable levels). My goal is to trade less to be #secure.

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 25/06/2026

#Security is often only increased. The best way I've found so far to reduce it is to establish a thorough #threatmodel and show the reduced burden remains adequate. For example, my online login passwords are just 8 random characters long. See the paper "Passwords and Cryptwords" for the rationale.

110

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 15/06/2026

Helped labmate with paper shepherding. Still looking for employment opportunities. Will have to broaden my search a little, beyond teaching faculty positions.

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 03/06/2026

#Claude's rebuttal, tersely summarized: #AI enables delegating thinking at an unprecedented scale, enabling harms previously rare. Learners need generative struggle to develop intuition. Non experts can attempt tasks they cannot verify, with potentially dangerous outcomes. The #scale makes this new.

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 03/06/2026

#AI is new, but the world has survived #disruption in the past. Canning. Gunpowder. Steam. Cars. Etc. The world changed. #GenerativeAI is not the first means to delegate thinking. Having servants or employees doesn't make the #manager less #intelligent. Now we're all opt-in managers. #genai #framing

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 27/05/2026

#Authentication idea I probably won't pursue. Auth and #AgeVerification sometimes requires a photo of you holding your ID card, but generative #AI #genai can fake those. Video is not inherently better. Can #automate a #challenge-response protocol in a live video session via an IVR ("say banana").

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 18/05/2026

Another favorite variant is those used to being the expert: rare to have people around with a similar level of knowledge. In that case the internal state is closer to "Yay, someone is actually willing to listen to me talk about this thing I care so much about!". It often ends far too soon :).

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 11/05/2026

How it feels internally to be the most knowledgeable person in the room (about some topic): "huh, there's so much I don't know, I'm surprised nobody else has anything to add about this". It feels like your knowledge is typical. More so if learned a while ago or those often around you know the same.

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 02/05/2026

Also breaking various grammatical taboos can help deliver emphasis without recourse to profanity or vulgarity, etc. For example: yes, I really actually do care about having a verifiably real actual working genuine. Digital. Commons. That's what triggered the discussion. ❤️ #Wikipedia #InternetArchive

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 02/05/2026

Had a fun conversation with #Claude.ai tonight. I was looking for emphatic alternatives to #cussing or oaths since I choose to not use those. Due to my upbringing, I also generally avoid absolutes. #Claude concluded that absolutes function for me in a similar taboo-breaking role as cussing. :D 😁

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 29/04/2026

Truly one of a kind.

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 29/04/2026

But we should at least try.

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 29/04/2026

#PSA If you print a #QR code on something, ALWAYS provide the URL (or a shortened URL) as well. QR readers will never be as universal as minds are. It also helps prevent QR phishing #quishing. If you #email a #qrcode, ALWAYS provide the URL! I can't point my phone camera at my phone's email to scan.

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 29/04/2026

Gave the stole of #gratitude to my #mother. It appears to be a recent commercially constructed "tradition" heavily marketed by #graduation apparel companies - but I figured she would appreciate the symbolic recognition regardless; she did. #stoleofgratitude #tradition #commercialization

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 29/04/2026

Job interview today. Asked ahead for a 15 minute teaching demo of my choice - taught about recursion.

010

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 22/04/2026

Walking in commencement and convocation at #BYU in a couple days. Official #graduation date is currently scheduled for 18 Jun 2026.

Michael in PhD regalia from the sides and front, with commencement and convocation details to the side.

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 11/04/2026

Only 20 days left for #NSPW #NSPW2026 paper submissions. www.nspw.org/2026/cfp. I love the workshop, great place to learn about and get feedback for innovative #security ideas which might be hard to publish elsewhere for being too novel.

nspw.org

NSPW 2026 CFP | New Security Paradigms Workshop

NSPW 2026 invites three types of submissions:

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 07/04/2026

I only find a marketing "about" page and a call to action on the site - if it had a unique approach to decentralized data hosting I would expect it to be more visible. Regardless, I will not install an app.

000

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 05/04/2026

Thanks, nearly got a chuckle out of me :). Usually I'm mocked and mischaracterized in person, and it was nice to see it in a safe environment for once… Though, the painful lessons have taught me not to let overt mischaracterization remain unchallenged even when funny, and even when it seems safe.

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 05/04/2026

"Silence is assent" / "Qui tacet consentire videtur". Failure to speak up witnessing a harm is also not a healthy path. I sorrow that you felt it was disrespectful and insensitive. How would you gently encourage someone to not #spam who is in genuinely difficult straits? Perhaps I can learn 🥰.

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 05/04/2026

Be advised that sometimes open source primarily solves the #toxicity problem simply by not attracting many people. #Reputation and #moderation are not inherently solved by hopping platforms.

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 05/04/2026

Got "both". Funny. "This is either a significant advantage or an explanation for certain recurring difficulties in your life. Probably both." Likely more fun than diagnosis: I took the RAADS-R (embrace-autism.com/raads-r/) to check which put me below the neurotypical male average score.

100

Iiridayn @iiridayn.info · 05/04/2026

Not surprising. Seeing the same on Bluesky and in person with some friend groups. I've learned it's a hot button topic so I don't mention it much, mostly just quietly experiment with it to figure out where it's a useful #tool.

000