Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: David Hume Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: rationality Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:33:50 +0000 Organization: Haphazard Lines: 23 Message-ID: <84mvusel41.fsf@example.com> References: <3a2l0btnhg7crbcbjbb9biidpndu6arb9m@4ax.com> <37cf9cf9-a75d-4166-8c3b-f02f3ab3a7a8@googlegroups.com> <84vbai9zr7.fsf@example.com> <20151008.1102.972368snz@twoplaces.co.uk> <1120801214.466107547.130088.peter_flass-yahoo.com@news.eternal-september.org> <30aa008c-62a7-4473-8c64-41bdc76b9b90@googlegroups.com> <84wptxy1v8.fsf@example.com> <20151105111301.c1b03835f59b0b3af24b7bdd@eircom.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: sHJLr/ujzlkDnWjCSq+gXw.user.speranza.aioe.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.3 (gnu/linux) X-No-Archive: Yes X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Cancel-Lock: sha1:w6ZwC/MZr6sWl02YLCQygazXQEU= Xref: csiph.com alt.folklore.computers:153997 Ahem A Rivet's Shot writes: > On Wed, 04 Nov 2015 19:56:59 +0000 > David Hume wrote: > >> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: >> >> >> > >> > While computer viruses fit some of the characteristics of biological >> > viruses, I wish the word _sabotage_ had been adopted instead. "Virus" >> > makes it sound like the PC was infected by a random act of nature--as >> > we catch a cold--as opposed to a deliberate malicious attack which a >> > computer virus is. >> >> I should pedantically point out that virus attacks are not random, they >> are pre-programmed strategies to spread and multiply. But arguably they >> are not malicious, so much as inconsiderate. > > Those that are involved in setting up botnets and the like are IMHO > malicious, as are those that cause damage on infected systems. I was talking about nature's viruses.