Of course homeopathy is useless for treating medical conditions. But that doesn't mean it's fake or worthless. How many of the conditions that people take medicines for are in fact spiritual or emotional or attitudinal conditions that can only be acknowledged physically- AKA "psychosomatic"? The vast majority of them! AND, despite the common assumption that Western medicine cures everything it's applied to, it does not- just ask any nurse in a family practice clinic. What a vast pool of maladies that leaves that are susceptible to Homeopathy. No wonder it keeps "working", when the only thing people actually need from it is reassurance or the chance to believe that things can be better. And then there's the everpresent danger of medical science claiming that it knows all there is to know about how the body works.... let's not go there.

One thing about non- electronic DIY projects is that they force you to become familiar with the older technologies. I don't think we should be setting up websites or school courses to teach kids things like, 'before mobile phones there was the telegraph'. The shame is not that kids are losing touch with old technologies, but that they don't get the benefits of producing something with their own hands-- which would incidentally require the use of those old techs. Make kids communicate without mobile devices and they will rediscover the 'old' science behind telegraphs. And tell them stories about AG Bell and Edison, and they will learn the history behind telegraphs. Websites and new school curriculum won't accomplish this; people learn from other people. Old tech and science can be kept alive by simply building something with your own grand/kids.

I have in mind soliciting donations of Implantable Medical Devices, building a Programmer such as you describe in some of the papers you've published, then holding an annual hackathon of the IMD's. Figure out how to crack them and control them, then give the results to the manufacturers. Each year, we publish last year's results and crack another batch. I'm sure this plan presents ethical dilemmas in some peoples' minds but to me those are nothing compared to the even worse ethics of letting crappy code ship in these life- critical devices. I think the delay in publishing the results gives mfgrs plenty of time to mitigate any lapses in code quality that they neglected to cover in the first place. This is the high level view, of course; building the Programer isn't quite as easy as, say, putting together a Lego airplane. But in principle, what obstacles, gotchas and advisories do you see to this scheme?