Schneier posts irony:

…the problem of agricultural safety and security mirrors the security issues in computer networks, especially with the monoculture in operating systems and network protocols.

Agriculture Security, Bruce Schneier, Schneier on Security, October 20, 2006

I say irony, because of course the concept of monoculture originated in ecology and agriculture, from which it was imported to computing, which Bruce knows as well as anyone else.

He’s referring to an article in the NYTimes:

Because it’s easier to find a technological fix than to address the root cause of such a problem. This has always been the genius of industrial capitalism — to take its failings and turn them into exciting new business opportunities.

The Vegetable-Industrial Complex, By MICHAEL POLLAN, October 15, 2006.

Well, yes, but the specific fix the article is using as illustration is sterilizing animal feces in food for humans. Finding a way to sell the feces as a separate product would be to my mind a better example of capitalistic genius.

Interesting that it takes a spinach scare to get the public to notice what’s been obvious to anyone who deals with the problem on a more regular basis. Hm, that is just like computer monoculture….

-jsq