From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 17:31:09 +0800
To: "Mark M." <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: key bit lengths
Message-ID: <ad9713050002100436c2@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 6:21 PM 4/14/96, Mark M. wrote:

>I doubt it.  This calculation is based on the minimum amount of energy
>needed to invert a bit.  The amount of energy is a function of the temperature,
>so a brute force attack might take much less energy several billion years
>hence, since the universe will cooled off more.  There only way for there to
>be any way around this, is if a way was found to lower the termperature to
>near absolute zero consuming a very little amount of energy, or if some way
>was found to invert a bit using less energy than is currently believed (very
>doubtfull).  Of course, if P=NP, then brute-force attacks will be pointless.

A late April Fool's joke, methinks? Arguing that in "several billion years"
the "temperature" of the universe will have anything to do with
computation....well, your physics is all wrong.

The approximate figure, kT, for the minimum energy in a conventional bit
flip, can be reduced by simple cooling. Not a problem. And what the
so-called "average temperature" of the Universe may be in, say, 10 billion
years, will not affect computation. Fusion will still occur, stars will
still burn, sunshine will still produce heat. And so on.

--Tim May


Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."