Laurie Anderson Is Quoting Me

Not by name, but Laurie Anderson quotes me in one of the tracks of her new album:

My favorite quote is from a cryptologist who said “If you think technology will solve your problems, you don’t understand technology and you don’t understand your problems.”

Also in interviews:

“Of course, it’s ridiculous, outrageous, blah, blah, blah,” Anderson says about the ad. ‘But, I mean, my favorite quote on this is from a cryptologist who said, ‘If you think technology will solve your problems, you don’t understand technology ­ and you don’t understand your problems.’ And I think I’m completely on board with that.”

People are telling me that she has been reciting this quote in performances for years. (I lost track of her since college and her 1981 hit “O Superman.”)

The origins of the quote is from Roger Needham:

If you think cryptography can solve your problem, you don’t understand your problem and you don’t understand cryptography.

I modified the quote in the preface to my 2000 book Secrets and Lies:

A few years ago I heard a quotation, and I am going to modify it here: If you think technology can solve your security problems, then you don’t understand the problems and you don’t understand the technology.

I can’t tell you why me in 2000 didn’t credit Needham by name. I should have.

I have used the quote pretty consistently since then. Somewhere along the line I dropped “security” from the phrase, and now say it more like Anderson quotes me:

If you think technology will solve your problem, you don’t understand your problem and you don’t understand technology.

I sometimes use singular and sometimes use plural. Sometimes I say “the problem” and “the technology.” But I think the quote flows better ending with just the word “technology.”

EDITED TO ADD (5/12): It gets weirder. A friend sent me some 1997 emails that talk about this. Roger Needham wrote: “Butler Lampson and I each attribute to the other the remark.” I wrote: “Roger Needham claims that Robert Morris said it. Robert Morris claims that Roger Needham said it. No one knows who the originator is.” I said it from stage at Defcon that year—definitely not the originator.

Tags: ,

Posted on May 19, 2026 at 7:00 AM • 16 Comments

Comments

Norman Yoke • May 19, 2026 7:56 AM

“When a thing has been said and well said, have no scruple; take it and copy it. Give references? Why should you? – Anatole France

JR • May 19, 2026 10:33 AM

How about….

“If you think AI will solve your problems, you don’t understand AI and you don’t understand your problems.”

Rontea • May 19, 2026 10:50 AM

Wow, Laurie Anderson quoting you is like that moment when you realize your high school crush finally liked one of your tweets—except instead of a tweet, it’s a cryptography proverb, and instead of high school, it’s the entire world of experimental art.

DBA • May 19, 2026 10:51 AM

I saw her perform two or three times when I lived in the Phoenix area, she’s pretty awesome! Sadly, I haven’t kept up with her releases in the last couple of decades, I should check out her new stuff.

Clive Robinson • May 19, 2026 10:53 AM

@ Bruce,

That 1981 “hit” O’superman became the success it was due to it being “Championed” by John Peel a UK “disk jockey” who started out on the Pirate Ships (a place I was not supposed to go but…).

John had this little trick of sitting at a dining table in the mess and throwing a biscuit wrapper over his shoulder and into the bin without looking…

His personal record collection was immense and how he kept track of it I never did work out.

@ ALL,

If you’ve not head of Laurie Anderson, you might have heard of her late husband Lou Reed who became quite famous for a remake of his song “perfect day” in 97 by the UK BBC that raised well over £2million for the “children in need” charity.

Dave • May 19, 2026 11:03 AM

Is the inverse true? If you think technology is the cause of your problem, you don’t understand your problem and you don’t understand technology.

legion • May 19, 2026 11:56 AM

Her concert movie, Home of the Brave, is fantastic. It came out around the time of Stop Making Sense, and has interesting similarities and also differences.

But to continue the musical crypto thread, I’m fond of an MC Frontalot song called “Secrets from the Future” which is all about how your encrypted stuff will eventually be recoverable by better tech. The song was done in 2007, and there’s a line: “By 2025 a children’s Speak n’ Spell could crack it.”

David_in_Toronto • May 19, 2026 12:03 PM

An even older version of this was often heard in Toronto security user group meetings in the early 80s. There were several variants along the lines of “Technology alone will not solve management problems.” This is a bit terse, and I like Bruce’s generalized version better.

Bruce A Wilson • May 19, 2026 12:34 PM

How about a Collab? “Big Data” could be the perfect sequel to “Big Science”.

O LLM. O judge. O(n.Log(n)) n.log(n)

Clive Robinson • May 19, 2026 5:30 PM

@ Dave,

With regards,

<

blockquote>”Is the inverse true? If you think technology is the cause of your problems…”

“Legal Technology” has been the bain of my life for over half a century.

The Less than legal use of technology has also been fun in all manner of ways and as a result I got to meet people who were idolised by many others. Most of those I met were way more human and down to earth than you would expect, most were professional in ways few others were.

The fully illegal design but sanctioned use of other technology was also fun but in entirely different ways, and sometimes “the problem” was as simple as “getting away without being shot etc”.

At every occurrence of unusual technology being “a pain” the problem had been “found” the issue I was trying to solve was shall we say it needing to be “fixed and finished”

I’m to old now to run from roof top to roof top being chased by those who would happily throw me off.

Likewise the shimmy up masts and gantries with 40-60ft waves crashing one slip away.

Sliding down a rope from high places and objects was another “pleasure” to be had… Especially when you could not see if the rope reached the ground or leave you high and sometimes less than dry as your bladder decided being empty was a good thing. As branches scratched through clothes and gear.

The thing though is no matter how problematical for me technology has always put money in the bank, and the more problematical the larger the deposit in more ways than one 😉

Superlative Man • May 19, 2026 11:03 PM

You know you have ‘arrived’ when you become a Laurie Anderson proverb.

iAPX • May 21, 2026 6:01 AM

Great artist !

I love how she impersonate a “smart” building in the song Rely On Me, created with Jean-Michel Jarre (Jean Michel Jarre in USA).
The lyrics are real security fun …

“I know everything about you
You know nothing …
Don’t qui the building” – the building

Frank Wilhoit • May 31, 2026 7:28 AM

We have stopped caring whether we understand our problems, and we never cared whether we understood our technologies. This comes at a price that we will not be able to pay.

Leave a comment

Blog moderation policy

Login

Allowed HTML <a href="URL"> • <em> <cite> <i> • <strong> <b> • <sub> <sup> • <ul> <ol> <li> • <blockquote> <pre> Markdown Extra syntax via https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/

Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.