by LostGunner » 15 Jun 2006 22:13
I tend to agree with devildog - people focus too much on the lock. Each lock should be considered a puzzle, some more challenging than others. The reality is that each can be opened given sufficient time.
Furthermore consider what it is you are protecting and whom are you protecting it from? You can secure your house down to the last detail, but what happens when the levy breaks? Is everything perfectly watertight? Will it withstand a wall of water rushing over it? Can it stop an intruder with a brick that knows you are on vacation? A sledgehammer?
If human ingenuity, cunning, planning and ruthlessness can net $92 million, as in the recent UK heist, what can possibly be truly safe? As an individual I think your best bet is to focus on locks, safes and alarms as deterrents and mechanisms to slow entry, but also as puzzles that are interesting to defeat. Focus on personal defense and insurance as true safeguards against crime.
As another example, consider the incident in Waco, Texas. Should the government choose to come after you, can you repel a 100 man ATF assault? I suppose so, they did. Can you stand for 52 days against the government or anyone else that wants what you have and is willing to commit the time and resources to get it? The Branch Davidians couldn't.
So where does that leave us? I say it leaves us to find security as a hobby, one that should be applied in our personal lives but one that is ultimately impossible to achieve perfectly. Focus not simply on the lock but on all your surroundings and fortifying them such that they are able to dissuade most and repel what few remain. Then simply enjoy the puzzle that is the lock.
