Too Much Monkey Business

The lingo used by those of us who deal with computer security issues can be pretty opaque at times. Acronyms like CIAC, NAC, and RAT rub shoulders with neologisms like keylogger, phishing, and malware, and ominous-sounding phrases like “zero-day attack”. Their meanings are not always clear and most have little relevance to the daily lives of anyone who doesn’t have a propeller beanie or pocket protector.

There are, however, some terms for computer brain malfunctions that are similar to human brain malfunctions. Take, for example, the buffer overflow.

In computerese, a buffer is simply a short-term storage area for information. When I wrote this article, for example, it was stored in a buffer in my computer’s memory until I saved the file, when it was moved to long-term storage on the hard drive. There’s a limit to how much data the buffer can hold at one time, however, and if it gets flooded with too many bits too quickly it will overflow, the program will crash, and information will be lost. Viruses and other malicious programs use buffer overflows as an infection tactic.

Buffer overflows occur in the real world all the time. Have you ever gone to a party and been introduced to so many new people so quickly that you completely forgot most of them? Or attended a class that moved so quickly that you became completely lost? Buffer overflow. Like your computer, your brain has only so much short-term storage capacity.

Situations like the ones I just described are minor annoyances, but in the last couple of decades another, more troubling kind of human buffer overflow is starting to show up. It’s a function of the 24/7, “always on”, media-saturated environment in which we live – an environment that’s very new in human history and effectively unprecedented.

The problem is that we are simply bombarded by information every waking hour of our lives, from hundreds of cable, satellite and broadcast TV and radio channels, junk paper mail and email, and every possible type of media via the Internet.

Irrelevant trivia that, in an earlier age, simply wouldn’t have made the cut to publication is tossed into the mix along with genuinely critical political and economic information. There are so many outlets that the demand for material is staggering.

The result is that we in the Western world seem to be losing the ability to tell trash from truth, and are forgetting our own history, recent or distant. Our buffers are continually overflowing. We’re swamped in a flood of celebrity gossip, vacuous sound bites and, especially over the last several years, a constant drumbeat of fear — all of which makes us that much more susceptible to the latest corporate hustle or government propaganda campaign. The less we know about the real issues, the easier we are to manipulate.

There are, happily, some easy remedies:

• Make “off” the default state for your TV. Turn it on only when there’s something that you particularly want to watch.
• Do the same for your radio.
• Get your news from a source that allows you to control what information you get and the speed at which you get it — a newspaper, news magazine, or news web site.

Finally, take time to think about what you’ve read and to discuss it with friends and family. Explaining a concept to others helps clarify your own thinking.

It might even prevent a mental system crash.