Ya this is fair! Honestly this was our first bounty ever awarded and we could have been more thoughtful. We’re currently setting up a proper program and based on that rubric will adjust accordingly.
I’m Hursh, cofounder and CTO of The Browser Company (the company that makes Arc). Even though no users were affected and we patched it right away, the hypothetical depth of this vulnerability is unacceptable. We’ve written up some technical details and how we’ll improve in the future (including moving off Firebase and setting up a proper bug bounty program) here: https://arc.net/blog/CVE-2024-45489-incident-response.
I'm really sorry about this, both the vuln itself and the delayed comms around it, and really appreciate all the feedback here – everything from disappointment to outrage to encouragement. It holds us accountable to do better, and makes sure we prioritize this moving forward. Thank you so much.
It's disappointing that he seems to confuse the field in which intelligence and perception take place (the subjective experience of being alive) and the sensory perception and thought inside it. It'd be a much more interesting article if he focused on how and why the former shows up out of physical neurons.
You can either get information from other people you trust and you think would give you accurate feedback or by trying to develop a clearer sense of how your own mind works via ego dissolution.
For the former, its probably ideal to pick someone you trust and respect, and try to be clear with them you want critical or constructive feedback.
For the latter, meditation, therapy, and Vedanta-style self-inquiry can all trigger more self-awareness and self-dissolution. As the amygdala shrinks and prefrontal cortex gets more activated, the fear-based, survival-oriented self erodes and you start to be able to see more clearly and objectively.