The March HackFormers meeting will be held on March 15, 2013 and is free and open to all.
Lunch will be provided at no cost to attendees. Just register and show up!
Seating is limited, so please Register!
Meeting details are given below.
Speaker: Keith Lowery
Senior Fellow, Advanced Micro Devices
Date: March 15, 2013
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. with introductions beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Venue: Microsoft Technology Center at Quarry Oaks 2.
Address: 10900 Stonelake Blvd. Suite 225. Austin, TX 78759
Topic: Avoiding Superstitious Architectures – Truth as a Foundation for Information Security
Abstract: Detailed visibility on the behavior of distributed systems is notoriously hard to come by, and there is a great operational temptation to make decisions based on a superstitious explanation for what’s going wrong. The adoption of service-oriented-architectures for web-scale computing, while clearly desirable, yet introduces substantial security and operational complexity. In this presentation, Keith shares a number of true-life experiences and lessons learned regarding the criticality of humility as precondition for having the motivation to do the hard work of analyzing the behavior of scale-out systems. Keith shows how a lack of humility regarding our own comprehension of complex systems can result in the compromise of user privacy and even the unnecessary expenditure of funds.
When Jesus said “I am the truth”, He was, among other things, laying claim to being the lens through which everything about the world and our lives should be understood. The Bible describes Jesus as the explanation, purpose, and goal of everything that is, was, or will be. Any true understanding of our lives, our relationships, or our purpose begins with Jesus. One of the consistent themes of the Bible is that humility is a pre-condition for intimacy with God. We’ll take a moment to reflect on the connection between humility and truth. We’ll consider how a lack of humility can cloud our perspective and destroy the God-given motivation to seek the truth. A belief in the sufficiency of our own understanding precludes any inclination to look for answers beyond ourselves. The cost of looking at our lives through the faulty lens of our own understanding is high – far higher than the loss of privacy or the expenditure of funds.
