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[Trekkin]

I don't know about that one. Details plz.

Sure. You know, I assume, of the Roswell Incident, where debris from an unidentified flying object (used here in the literal sense) was found in 1947? The government said it was a weather balloon, while UFOlogists claimed this to be a coverup for the recovery of an alien spacecraft, and so a half-century of UFO tourism began.

As it happens, there was a coverup and the debris was not from a weather balloon; it was, instead, part of Project Mogul, an attempt to detect Soviet nuclear tests by the sound of their explosions via microphones carried to high altitudes on balloons, as the government admitted in the 90s.

[Il Palazzo]

the coverup of Project Mogul.

Did you mean to say the false information spread to convince the less-trusting parts of the public that these were military balloons and not aliens?

[Hanslanda]

The overlie to the lie.

[dragdeler]

Just like they admitted to Iran contra, a multitude of coups d'état in south america and the one that got Komeini in power... Is it still considered fringe to take Zbigniew Brzeziński seriously in 2018? Can we ever truly close the case on such matters? If history is a science, the models are expected to be progressing. But since I consider 90% of mainstream discourse propaganda, I might not be the most finetuned guy to anticipate what is fringe and what not.

[Il Palazzo]

But since I consider 90% of mainstream discourse propaganda, I might not be the most finetuned guy to anticipate what is fringe and what not.

I wanna say: Yeah, no shit. So, I will.
Yeah, no shit.

[TamerVirus]

The overlie to the lie.

Its lies all the way down

[dragdeler]

-snip-

[Hanslanda]

The overlie to the lie.

Its lies all the way down

Reality is a fractal lie that got way out of hand.

[Il Palazzo]

Yeah, no shit.

Look, I'm a freak, and it looks like you ain't getting rid of me that fast 

Please stand by as our black helicopters get to your place. And yes, we do know where you live.

[dragdeler]

-snip-

[dragdeler]

-snip-

[Trekkin]

Neither. Cicada 3301 is a cult; they're like a more mystical version of MENSA. They convince mathematics students and cryptography enthusiasts that they're intellectually elite despite having accomplished nothing of note and welcome them into a global fraternity of similarly self-satisfied knuckleheads peddling smug hogwash to each other about how they're on the cutting edge of everything without ever actually doing anything at all. You can see how this is irresistibly appealing to the sorts of people amenable to belief in conspiracy theories.

[Reelya]

Cicada 3301: Some anonymous group posted cryptography-related puzzles on Jan 4th/5th for several years from 2013 onwards.

Nobody has ever publicly claimed to have solved the puzzles, so various conspiracy theory have arisen that anyone who solves the puzzles has been whisked away to work for the CIA or NSA or some other even more secretive organization. But I'm sure you can see a number of holes in that theory.

[Trekkin]

Two of the bigger holes in the "double super secret CIA" theory are the lack of any official announcement and the perversely time-intensive nature of the tests themselves. Some intelligence organizations do recruit via tests that superficially resemble Cicada's, but for obvious reasons they announce them officially in part to ensure that only people interested in whatever they're offering come bother them with a solution. Cicada runs a clear risk of people solving their puzzles and not wanting anything to do with whoever turns out to be at the end of the rabbit hole.

Furthermore, and somewhat more tellingly, official tests tend to be more narrowly focused on technical acumen and reasonably quick to complete; they want to know that you can do some specific task they need done, and so restrict their testing to that task set. Cicada's tests are more poetic, name-dropping cyberpunk literature and bits of literary esoterica while also demanding their applicants do things like search out far-flung telephone poles with QR codes on them and wait long periods of time to check Web sites. One gets the sense they're setting up hoops for the sole purpose of seeing who has the free time to spend jumping through them, which is somewhat irrelevant to someone looking for employees.

[dragdeler]

-snip-