When Machines Can Code - Reflections on Trusting Trust by Ken Thompson + Coding Machines by Lawrence Kesteloot

In this episode of Book Overflow, Carter and Nathan discuss Ken Thompson's essay Reflections on Trusting Trust and the short story Coding Machines by Lawrence Kesteloot!

Big thanks to user 0b00101010 from the Book Overflow Discord for the recommendation! Join it here: https://discord.gg/ZwS2fqW7ZZ

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Carter

https://www.joinleland.com/coach/carter-m-1

Nathan

https://www.joinleland.com/coach/nathan-t-2

-- Books Mentioned in this Episode --

Note: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Reflections on Trusting Trust by Ken Thompson

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rdriley/487/papers/Thompson_1984_ReflectionsonTrustingTrust.pdf

Coding Machines by Lawrence Kesteloot

https://www.teamten.com/lawrence/writings/coding-machines/

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00:00 Intro

02:55 About the Authors and Essays

06:14 Initial Thoughts

11:03 The Trusting Trust Attack

22:39 Coding Machines

32:05 AI Trust and Dark Patterns

44:01 AI-Generated Code and the Future

54:52 Stuxnet and Unintended Consequences

1:02:43 Final Thoughts

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5kj6DLCEWR5nHShlSYJI5L

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-overflow/id1745257325

X: https://x.com/bookoverflowpod

Carter on X: https://x.com/cartermorgan

Nathan's Functionally Imperative: www.functionallyimperative.com

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Book Overflow is a podcast for software engineers, by software engineers dedicated to improving our craft by reading the best technical books in the world. Join Carter Morgan and Nathan Toups as they read and discuss a new technical book each week!

The full book schedule and links to every major podcast player can be found at https://www.bookoverflow.io