Reuben Binns

"The Enigma Machine was an electro-mechanical device used in the mid-20th century to encrypt communications. An ingeniously simple and elegant combination of cogs, wires and lamps, all fitting into a portable case, it provided some of the strongest encryption possible at the time. During various Covid-19 lockdowns, I decided to re-enact this important development in the history of computing, through a project to build an Enigma machine at home, using modern components and digital design techniques. The completed project is made out of cheap hobby electronics parts and laser-cut wood, and can be assembled entirely by hand, with no gluing, screwing or soldering. I will reflect on what this process taught me about the challenges of electromechanical computing, security and usability, the changes in modern manufacturing and supply chains, and their impact on computing. This will be followed by a Q&A and a demonstration where you can see the home-made Enigma machine in action and have a go at encrypting and decrypting a message."

The internet may be the nervous system of the 21st century, but its main business purpose is helping marketers work out how to make people buy stuff. This talk maps out a possible alternative, where consumers co-ordinate online, pooling their data and resources to match demand with supply.

The internet, perhaps the most incredible communications medium ever created, is fast becoming the nervous system of the 21st century. But right now its primary business function is to gather data about us, to categorise and sort us, to machine learn our most intimate secrets, all so that marketers can craft advertisements designed to extract as much money out of us as possible. As well as being the cause of our current privacy and surveillance woes, this business model is also a surprisingly inefficient way of matching consumers with stuff they actually want and need. A vast infrastructure of ad servers, data brokers, CRMs, and real-time bidding platforms exists in order to quietly nudge consumers to buy a different brand of soap. The problem is that we are easily nudged, and being a rational consumer in the modern economy requires an impossible amount of time, information and intelligence. Realistically, it is beyond the powers of human computation. The seeds of a technology-driven alternative are emerging in some corners of the economy. A range of new tools crunch through masses of pricing and product data to help consumers avoid getting ripped off, and find the products they really need. Collective buying schemes have enabled households to club together in their thousands to negotiate better, cheaper, more sustainable suppliers of home energy and other products. The growth of free software, peer production and decentralised systems demonstrate that technology for independence, co-operation and empowerment are possible outside of the traditional market model. Combining these trends suggests a possible future where ordinary people collectively pool their data, computation and buying power to drive the production and allocation of goods and services, rendering the surveillance-advertising business model redundant in the process.