Presenter
Mark S. Miller, Agoric
Mark S. Miller is the main designer of the E and Dr. SES distributed object-capability programming languages, inventor of Miller Columns, a pioneer of agoric (market-based secure distributed) computing, an architect of the Xanadu hypertext publishing system, a representative to the EcmaScript committee, senior fellow of the Foresight Institute, and founding Chief Scientist of Agoric.
Morgan Livingston, TechCongress Fellow
Morgan Livingston is a cyber policy researcher, focusing on machine learning, cybersecurity, and data. Most recently, she supported White House and federal AI policy as an IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute fellow. Morgan is passionate about longterm technology governance, having researched privacy law with Stanford Law, space policy with IDA, quantum computing with the Wilson Center, and implemented cybersecurity compliance with ICS cybersecurity company Nozomi Networks...
Allison Duettmann, Foresight Institute
Allison Duettmann is the president and CEO of Foresight Institute. She directs the Intelligent Cooperation, Molecular Machines, Biotech & Health Extension, Neurotech, and Space Groups, Fellowships, Prizes, and Tech Trees. She shares Foresight’s work with the public, for instance at the Wall Street Journal, SXSW, O’Reilly AI, WEF, The Partnership on AI, Effective Altruism Global, and TEDx. She founded Existentialhope.com, co-edited Superintelligence: Coordination & Strategy...
Austin Liu, Cornell University
Hi, I’m Austin. A series of odd (mis?)steps has led me to cryptography and computational number theory.
Dean Tribble, Agoric
E. Dean Tribble, Agoric CEO, designed the negotiation process and contract for the first smart contracting system, AMiX. As a Principal Architect at Microsoft, he designed the Midori distributed object-capability operating system. As founder and CTO for Agorics (acquired by Microsoft), he developed the brokerage information system for Schwab’sactive traders, the WebMart system for electronic contracts, and the first electronic check project by the FSTC for the DoD...
Mikayla Maki, Zed
Mikayla started working in software as a freelance programmer, building WordPress websites for small businesses from 2015 to 2017. In 2018 she decided to return to school, going to Portland State University and study P2P software, CRDTs, and distributed web technologies with Rust. As an intern at Zed for the summer of 2022, she built Zed's integrated Terminal emulator, and was subsequently hired. In her spare time she helps teach high schoolers in rural Oregon the basics of computer programming.
Summary:
What are you trying to do?
We suggest building interaction design for usable security. Make it common to develop user interfaces in which the easy way is the secure way, i.e. “the actions that users want to take, they naturally take in a secure fashion”.
How is it done today? What are the limitations of the current system?
Civilization’s computer infrastructure is patchwork and insecurable. Problems include attacks on electric grid, major financial meltdowns, and other attack vectors propagated by advanced AI.
What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
Make all decisions an explicit part of the user interface, which will allow users to understand the implications of their actions. The entire problem is too large to tackle. What we can do is create a prize, i.e. the Norm Hardy Prize, to honor the late computer security pioneer and promote the secure use of computers.
If successful, what difference will it make?
Voluntary cooperation is only meaningful when based on informed consent. UIs are where the human world meets the crypto world. The UI security issue *is* the issue of enabling the human to understand what they are consenting to.
How much will it cost?
Ideally, $10K annually for 5 years. Plus $5K for admin, physical award, travel stipends to speaking engagement, press release and PR.
How long will it take?
The prize will be given annually.
What are the mid-term and final exams to check for completeness?
To check for prize awardees quality: use rank votes for submissions.
To check for success of prize purpose, determine if prize winners’ systems are adopted in widely used systems afterward.
