For the record, it's been more than 20 years since the world's first computer virus scare. That one infected a network of some 50,000 computers, which seems tiny today. Police later arrested Robert Tappan Morris Jr., who wrote the virus while a graduate student at Columbia University. He said he did it as an experiment to see how vast the Internet was at the time and that he intended no harm. A court sentenced him to three years probation.

At the time, a Deseret News editorial said, "As computer technology advances, one of its challenges will be to produce better methods of protecting itself from anti-social tampering. But it's a well-known fact of life that the safeguards produced by one inventive person can be circumvented by someone even more ingenious.

"If there's a lesson in this week's computer virus attack, perhaps it's that better laws and better technology are still no substitute for better people — meaning people with a keener sense of social responsibility."

It was a nice sentiment — even somewhat prophetic. But all these years later we're no closer to teaching "geeks bearing formulas" — of all types and in all pursuits — to act more like responsible people.

Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret News editorial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com. Visit his blog at www.deseretnews.com/blogs.