Education

Capture the Flag (CTF) exercises are one of the better formats security learning has produced. Participants can work at their own pace, choose what to engage with, encounter real obstacles, and get immediate feedback when something works or does not. For learning technical skills, this is close to ideal. Most CTFs do not deliver on this potential. Not because they are badly designed, but because they are designed to do something else. Many optimise for engagement, competition, or recruitment. In that context, teaching people to solve CTF challenges is not a failure. It is the goal. ...

In 1991, The Tech at MIT published an interview with Joseph Weizenbaum, the computer scientist best known for creating ELIZA and later becoming one of the field’s sharpest internal critics. Speaking with Diana ben‑Aaron, he dissected the role of computers in education, their entanglement with the military, and the ethical evasions of scientists. Three decades later, his words are less a time capsule and more a mirror, the issues he named have not only persisted but mutated into modern forms, from AI hype cycles to tech‑military partnerships dressed up in start‑up chic. This post is a “then/now” rendering of that interview: his points in their original spirit, and how they look in the world of 2025. ...