On Tue, 14 Mar 2000, Bill Stewart wrote: > http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00/03/14/1924204&cid=39 > > Here's the first paragraph, and some of the other respondents had > good commentary: > > > I don't know how much of this is the reporting, > > either by the judges or the press, vs. how much is the > > winner's understanding of the technology involved > > (it sounds like it's her mistake, and the judges didn't understand it.) > > The idea of stashing messages in DNA is cool, > > and doing the actual work to build it is definitely cool stuff > > for a high-school student. But the crypto isn't correct. No surprise there. The scientific merit of Westinghouse winners (I guess they're Intel winners now) has always been dubious at best, and major flaws in winning projects turn up all the time. The competition doesn't seem to care. It's run as a marketing show, and the ethics of promoting such an incredibly careless and political approach to science are no concern of theirs. -Bram Cohen
