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From: james@yetti.UUCP (James Pierre Lewis)
Newsgroups: tor.general
Subject: Distinguished Lecture Series at York University
Message-ID: <442@yetti.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Nov-86 08:56:13 EST
Article-I.D.: yetti.442
Posted: Wed Nov 19 08:56:13 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Nov-86 17:31:24 EST
Organization: York University Computer Science
Lines: 55


                                York University
                         Department of Computer Science
     
                                Faculty of Arts
     
     
                          Distinguished Lecture Series
     
                           Professor David L. Parnas
     
                          Queen's University, Kingston
     
     
                    "Why SDI Software Cannot Be Trustworthy"
     
                                Time:  2:00 p.m.
     
                             Date:  January 9, 1987
     
                  Place:  Senate Chambers, S915 Ross Building
     
     
                                    ABSTRACT
     
     
     
     In March 1983 U.S.  President Reagan asked  scientists  to  develop  a
     system  that  would free us from the fear of nuclear weapons by making
     strategic missiles impotent and obsolete.  In response, the Department
     of  Defense  formed  the  Strategic Defense Initiative Organization to
     investigate the possibility of such a system.  This talk presents  the
     speaker's  reasons  for  resigning  from  an  SDIO advisory panel.  It
     presents (a) the reasons that we are unable to build software that  is
     right  the  first  time  that it is used, (b) the aspects of the "Star
     Wars" problem that make it especially difficult from a software  point
     of  view,  (c) the reasons that certain new software technologies will
     not make it possible to build a trustworthy software system  for  SDI,
     (d) the flaws in the counterarguments proposed by SDI proponents.
     
     The talk is technical and will  not  discuss  political  or  strategic
     aspects  of  SDI.   However, deep knowledge of computer science is not
     required.
     
     This talk sheds some light on the general question of the  limitations
     on what we can do with computers.
     
     
                           DIRECTIONS TO YORK UNIVERSITY
     
     CAMPUS BY CAR: From Highway 401 take the Keele Street exit,  go  north
     on Keele about 4km to St. Lawrence Blvd. and turn left into the campus.
     
     PUBLIC TRANSIT: Take the University/Spadina subway to Wilson then take
     York University bus #106.