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Date: Wed, 12 Jan 94 15:37:34 EST
From: mel@ultrastar.EE.CORNELL.EDU (Miriam Leeser)
Message-Id: <9401122037.AA29252@ultrastar.EE.CORNELL.EDU>
To: info-hol@cs.uidaho.edu
Subject: there is a future for formal verification ;-)


 Some Light Humor:

 MODERN TIMES:

 Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest cable television company,
 is in talks to launch a unique pilot project in conjunction with Pacific
 Gas & Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp.  to design a "smart home."  The home
 automation industry is expected to triple in size, from $1.7 billion this
 year to  more than  $5.1 billion by the year 2000.

  November 28, 1995
 Moved in at last.  Finally, we live in the smartest house in the
 neighborhood.  Everything's networked.  The cable TV is connected to our
 phone, which is connected to my personal computer, which is connected to
 the power lines, all the appliances and the security system.  Everything runs
 off a universal remote with the friendliest interface I've ever used.
 Programming is a snap.  I'm, like, totally wired.

   November 30
 Hot stuff! Programmed my VCR from the office, turned up the thermostat
 and switched on the lights with the car phone, remotely tweaked the oven a
 few degrees for my pizza.  Everything nice  and  cozy when I arrived.
 Maybe I should get the universal remote surgically attached.

  December 3
 Yesterday, the kitchen crashed.  Freak event.  As I opened the
 refrigerator door, the light bulb blew.  Immediately, everything else
 electrical shut down - lights, microwave, coffee maker - everything.
 Carefully unplugged and replugged all the appliances.  Nothing.  Called the
 cable company (but not from the kitchen phone).  They refer me to the
 utility.  The utility insists the problem was in the software.  So the
 software company runs some remote telediagnostics via my house processor.

 Their expert system claims it has to be the utility's fault.  I don't
 care, I just want my kitchen back.  More phone calls; more remote
 diagnostics.

 Turns out the problem was "unanticipated failure mode" - the network
 had never seen a refrigerator bulb failure while the door was open.  So the
 fuzzy logic interpreted the burnout as a power surge and shut down the
 entire kitchen.  But because sensor memory confirmed that there hadn't
 actually been a power surge, the kitchen's logic sequence was confused so it
 couldn't do a standard restart.

 The utility guy swears this was the first time this has ever
 happened.  Rebooting the kitchen took over an hour.

  December 7
 The police are not happy.  Our house keeps calling them for help.  We
 discover that whenever we play the TV or stereo above 25 decibels, it
 creates patterns of micro-vibrations that get amplified when they hit the
 window.  When these vibrations mix with  a gust of wind, the security sensors
 are actuated, and the police computer concludes that someone is trying to
 break in.  Go figure.

 Another glitch: Whenever the basement is in self-diagnostic mode, the
 universal remote won't let me change the channels on my TV.  That means I
 actually have to get up off the couch and change the channels by hand.  The
 software and the utility people say this flaw will be fixed in the next
 upgrade - SmartHouse 2.1.  But it's not ready yet.

  December 12
 This is a nightmare.  There's a virus in the house.  My personal computer
 caught it while browsing on the public access network.  I come home and the
 living room is a sauna, the bedroom windows are covered with ice, the
 refrigerator has defrosted, the washing machine has flooded the basement,
 the garage door is cycling up and down, and the TV is stuck on the home
 shopping channel.  Throughout the house, lights flicker like stroboscopes
 until they explode from the strain.  Broken glass is everywhere.  Or course,
 the security sensors detect nothing.

 I look at a message slowly throbbing on my personal computer screen:
 "Welcome to HomeWrecker!!! Now the Fun Begins ...  (Be it ever so humble,
 there's no virus like HomeWrecker ...  )"  I get out of the house.  Fast.

  December 18
 They think they've digitally disinfected the house, but the place is a
 shambles.  Pipes have burst and we're not completely sure we've got the part
 of the virus that attacks toilets.  Nevertheless, the Exorcists (as the
 anti-virus SWAT members like to call themselves) are confident the worst
 is over.

 "HomeWrecker is pretty bad," one tells me, "but consider yourself lucky
 you didn't get PolterGeist.  That one is really evil."

  December 19
 Apparently, our house isn't insured for viruses.  "Fires and mudslides,
 yes," says the claims adjuster.  "Viruses, no."

 My agreement with the SmartHouse people explicitly states that all
 claims and warranties are null and void if any appliance or computer in
 my house networks in any way, shape or form with a noncertified on-line
 service.  Everybody's very, very sorry, but they can't be expected to
 anticipate every virus that might be created.

 We call our lawyer.  He laughs.  He's excited.

  December 21
 I get a call from a SmartHouse sales rep.  As a special holiday offer, we
 get the free opportunity to become a beta site for the company's new
 SmartHouse 2.1 upgrade.  He says I'll be able to meet the programmers
 personally.  "Sure," I tell him.

    Michael Schrage is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
   Copyright 1993 The Washington Post

 Stacey E. Morrison                       ***** ***** ****
 IRM Planning Office/PR3                    *   |___  *   *
 IPR for DA, CA, ZR, ZS8                    *       | *   *
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