Oddbean new post about login | logout What is the fastest way to explain public key cryptography to a room full of boomers?
A set of lock boxes that you give out to friends where you're the only one that can unlock it.
Yeah but like, the boxes are transparent so you can see what's inside but you can't get it out without the key. And it's just the pub key on the box, not a name, so its kinda anonymous. And you can have as many boxes as you want, everyone can. And you can zoom around the world in an instant dropping money in whoevers box you want. Pretty magical stuff to be honest.
Just be like, "you know how kings used to send messages and seal them with a wax seal, with an intricate print on it? The recipient knew it was from them because nobody else could make a seal that looked like that cause they were too poor or etc? Well that's how public keys work, you know the message was signed by someone and all the computers in the world can't fake that seal".
Takes a moment but I use the “transporting a chest full of gold from one castle to another - through hostile territory”. One way transport to Castle “B” with my padlock 🔒 - then back to me (Castle “A”) with their padlock 🔒on the chest. Then I remove my padlock 🔓 and send it back to Castle “B”. Thoughts on that?
Like it👍
Like everybody can see your house, but as long as you keep your key private only you can enter
I have been using a "house" analogy as well. I give my Public key to Fred to feed my cat while on vacation but I don't trust Fred. It doesn't matter because when he unlocks my door he can only see what I've "done" - the stuff I have inside my house. But it's all frozen in place. He can't even move a chair much less steal anything. I open my door with my private key and everything is unfrozen and I can more furniture at will etc. because I unlocked my door with the private key.
Good one! As long as houses and real estate are involved boomers understand😂🤙🏻
lol
Just take the time to explain the system properly. Don't use metaphors - they all suck and you'll just confuse peole more. Start with basic cryptography and then introduce public key crypto. Don't go into detail, just give them the overview. If they say silly things like 'that will never work' or 'it's unproven' just tell them that online banking and shopping have been using it sucessfully for 30 years.
I don't know. It's taken me a long time to get a basic understanding of it but I still have a long way to go. Cryptography is not an easy subject. I know it works, but I wonder for how long. Will someone eventually find a weakness? Will a better solution be found before that happens?
