25 + 8 points
Ouroboros by Sam Archer
June 22nd, 2011 11:36 AM
So I sat down and tried to think of a non-physical approach to this task, like a poem that destroyed itself upon being recited or something.
I couldn't think of a way to do it in English, but it turns out to be really easy in Perl!
I couldn't think of a way to do it in English, but it turns out to be really easy in Perl!
unlink $0;
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posted by Sam Archer on June 22nd, 2011 3:20 PM
To truly obliterate the information, the script would need to delete this proof and then put a bullet in the head of anyone who'd read it. I'm not going that far. :P
On being self-executing, it occurred to me that physical solutions have the same problem -- anything you devise that destroys itself would need to be set in motion by some external force. Unless it's something inherently unstable whose natural tendency is to cease to exist -- but does natural decay count as self-destruction?
posted by Idøntity matrix on June 22nd, 2011 7:15 PM
I think a nice unstable bomb would answer the calling but I will leave that task to someone else.
You have just unlinked the node, not destroyed the information. And it wouldn't execute itself either.