Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Godel's theorem doesn't have much to say either way about "hacking". If you've got a bit of information on a system that a user X shouldn't be able to access, if you completely seal off the user X from that information it doesn't matter how many computations they run. They won't be able to get it. Godel's proof does not prove anything about a system's ability to access its external environment, it proves that a sufficiently complicated system can't be sealed from having certain properties on its inside.


A DOS from a non-terminating process is still a hack.


The process can only fail to terminate if the exterior environment doesn't kill it, and no amount of work in a correctly secured environment will let the process escape that.

Security is hard, really hard even, but Hollywood OS is fictional. Barriers are penetrable today because they have holes, not because Godel's theorem guarantees that all security can be penetrated. That's not what it is about.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: