Open Hardware on Its Own Doesn’t Solve the Trust Problem
I trust my sliderule.   (This probably sounds like a snarky joke, so let me qualify it by saying I&#x27;m pretty serious.)<p>I&#x27;m an &quot;Apocalyptic&quot;: I literally believe that these are the &quot;End Times&quot; and that our global civilization is about to tank (in ~10-50 years.)  So I&#x27;m not so much worried about spooks in my chips as I am about being able to compute effectively at all, at all.<p>In that context, I think pretty seriously about what computer hardware will be available in a post-apocalyptic scenario.  In that case chips will likely be worthless due to unavailability of datasheets.<p>The things that will work are sliderules and nomographs[0], henges and other geophysical &quot;calendars&quot;, clockwork, fluidics, and relays.  You <i>might</i> be able to make discreet transistors.<p>See the <i>Clock of the Long Now</i> mechanism: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Clock_of_the_Long_Now#Design" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Clock_of_the_Long_Now#Design</a>  (Although a large pitch-drop[1] &quot;water&quot; clock[2] would be more reliable and much simpler.)<p>- - - -<p>Note that, if civilization <i>doesn&#x27;t</i> collapse, the Trust Problem will become much worse as IoT advances, and, in the limit, <i>nanotech</i>... and you can&#x27;t trust anything.  Within the limits of physics, reality will become permeated with &quot;ghosts&quot;, we will haunt the world with our own daemons.  The Daemon-Haunted World.  (&quot;&#x27;The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark&#x27; is a 1995 book by astrophysicist Carl Sagan, in which the author aims to explain the scientific method to laypeople, and to encourage people to learn critical and skeptical thinking.&quot;  <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Demon-Haunted_World" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Demon-Haunted_World</a> )<p>- - - -<p>Maybe we <i>will</i> develop massive interlocking computer networks that respect (your idea of) your human rights, but that&#x27;s certainly not a solid projection from current trends, eh?<p>[0] Image search for nomograph: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;duckduckgo.com&#x2F;?q=nomograph&amp;t=ffcm&amp;atb=v60-1&amp;iax=images&amp;ia=images" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;duckduckgo.com&#x2F;?q=nomograph&amp;t=ffcm&amp;atb=v60-1&amp;iax=ima...</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pitch_drop_experiment" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pitch_drop_experiment</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Water_clock" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Water_clock</a>