Mark Miller on cybersecurity
From Fireside chat with Mark Miller @ Vision Weekend US 2024 · · Foresight Institute
“The current computer security infrastructure that civilization rests on is insecure, giving attackers the advantage, which poses dangers that can only be surmounted in very unpleasant ways.”
On , Mark Miller, Co-Founder, Executive Vice President & Chief Technical Officer at VIASAT INC, spoke about cybersecurity during Fireside chat with Mark Miller @ Vision Weekend US 2024 on Foresight Institute.
About Mark Miller
In a February 2025 fireside chat at Foresight's Vision Weekend 2024, Mark Miller discussed the risks and opportunities of superintelligent AI systems, drawing parallels to human institutions. He stated that "the world will have super intelligences in it that are very very different than human beings" and that "things could go very badly if the power to do bad things is distributed badly to elements that have mal intent." Miller noted that human institutions, which he described as "super intelligences with mind architectures very different from humans," have historically been "tools of terrible oppression, counter-aligned with human good." He advocated for building on existing civilization rather than aiming for a perfect system with a single aligned AGI, a strategy he said "resonates with the decentralized movement." Miller also addressed computer security, arguing that "the current computer security infrastructure that civilization rests on is insecure, giving attackers the advantage." He pointed to the seL4 operating system as an example of rigorous engineering giving defenders an "absolute advantage over attackers." Miller discussed the Norm Hardy Prize, which he said addresses "the alignment problem in the small" by helping users interact securely with systems so that authorized actions fulfill their intentions. He cited the cypherpunks' victory in the first crypto wars as a model for establishing "facts on the ground" that centralized powers must accept, and noted that the modern crypto world is adopting a similar strategy with smart contracts and blockchains designed to be "incorruptible even by nation-state attackers."