Have You Seen This Virus?
“These creatures you call mice you see are not quite as they appear… you see the mice set up the whole Earth business, as an epic experiment in behavioural psychology; a ten-million year program” — Slartibartfast, character in ‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams
The Odd Unreported Virus
My PC was infected by a virus, some time ago, at least, I assume it was a virus, and not a bug, because the problem occurred over a few different web sites. When selecting dates, there was a problem. If I picked the 1st of June from a drop down calender, it would seem that I had the required date, however in fact, another date would be entered. In order to get the correct date, I needed to manually enter the date from my keyboard.
Sometimes, I first used the drop down calender, and subsequently corrected the date via the keyboard, however once I navigated away, the date would revert to the incorrect dates. It is the sort of mistake, I could make, therefore it took me a while to understand there was an issue. The impact of this was felt, when I had to pay for tickets twice.
I have worked in software coding and testing before, so I used a software testing approach to identify the problem. Jotting down my results after each test. I concluded that the logic behind this type of virus, would be relatively easy.
Auto-Correct
I also came across another virus, which re-orders auto-correct, so less usual words or plurals come first. Sometimes the order would change, or non-words appear. Good software should not have spelling mistakes, or random characters, non words or typos in auto-correct, singular versions of most words would precede plural.
Experience has taught me that mistakes in this sort of functionality, are less likely for applications and software that has existed for some time, and is in wide use, Microsoft word for example. Again, like before, I am more than capable of making spelling mistakes and choosing the wrong words from auto-correct. The virus just nudges an existing weakness into greater frequency.
When the Mice begin to Play
All of this is annoying but not interesting, until you ponder, the thinking behind these viruses. These viruses are subtle, can create an effect that can easily be mistaken for something else, and they harm by using the slightest of changes. Could the same approach of slight change, be used to help people? Of course with their consent, a tool that assists a person to learn grammar or improve, spelling, proof reading and observation skills etc. A tool that can be switched on and off as desired. I am curious to know if anybody else has come across these. Or anything else that uses the same approach.
__________
18/01/2016 Initial draft.
21/01/2016 small changes to flow.
Previous Posts
On Choice
- Good Robots
- Can we have a better choice then “Shoot to Kill”, please?
- Inventors, Engineers, Innovators — Where are you?
- Changing the Options on Killer Robots
- Have you seen this virus?
On Truth
- Understanding Data in War and Peace
- News Neutrality and News Integrity — societies need for impartial and truthful information.
- Has Anybody Seen the Truth Lately?
On Change
On Progress
- Art, Heart and Progress — Art Activism
- Art, Heart and Progress — The Artists
- Art, Heart and Progress — Photography
- Walking Backwards Slowly
- The Devil Is in The Detail
