Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Reelya]

Part of it is down to how people interpret the fact that nobody has solved the puzzles. The conspiracy theories goes that anyone who solved it is whisked away to work for the Illuminati or somesuch, another very movie-logic idea.

However, Ispil presented a more plausible scenario that (1) nobody was interested enough to go and solve the puzzles in the first place. And my idea was that (2) they're merely hoax puzzles which lack any solution. If anyone did solve the puzzles there's really no way any organization no matter how well-connected could prevent the solution leaking out. People who solved each individual clue would post about it, creating a flurry of activity and a race to solve the next clue.

Also, as Trekkin points out, things like QR codes on telephone poles massively restricts the potential number of people who can solve the puzzle. How many people are driving to another city to find that? And websites which you must check on particular dates etc. That just weeds out anyone who forgets to check the website, then you pull stuff like they have to check a particular telephone pole in some town somewhere, which effectively prevents almost everyone who waited for the website to become active from chasing the next clue. So it's just designed as a bullshit set of challenges and there's no actual mystery to solve. It's a glorified easter egg hunt, not a "puzzle".

[Trekkin]

People who solved each individual clue would post about it, creating a flurry of activity and a race to solve the next clue.

This actually happened, and people who have solved the puzzles as far as they can go report hitting dead ends where Cicada mentions how disappointed they are that people collaborated and effectively ends the trail of bread crumbs -- which, again, just adds more points of failure. Real nontraditional recruitment challenges tend to be one-stage affairs for precisely this reason, but doing it piecemeal is a great way to just keep adding hurdles until everyone gives up and thereby stay mysterious.

I hesitate to call them trolls only because they actually have a semi-coherent ideology as outlined in the Liber Primus, and it sounds vaguely self-affirming along the lines of a lot of cult material with an added bit of cyberpunky transhumanism. That, combined with the length of time they've been putting out these elaborate puzzles, makes me think there are true believers somewhere. Maybe only a half-dozen of them, though.

[Max™]

Gods above and Devils below that shit sounds stupid, like "we're going to emerge into our true selves in 1300 years" or something?

Yeah, I probably made that shit up when I was 13 and stoned, it's as cringey now as it was then.

[Trekkin]

Well, here is the text of the Liber Primus:
http://uncovering-cicada.wikia.com/wiki/Liber_Primus

So yes, much like that, but with (ham-handed) koans!

EDIT: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the whole Cicada wiki is hilarious. They try to hard to make it all mean something.

[Reelya]

Gods above and Devils below that shit sounds stupid, like "we're going to emerge into our true selves in 1300 years" or something?

Yeah, I probably made that shit up when I was 13 and stoned, it's as cringey now as it was then.

Man, you're right, this stuff sounds like the stuff my sisters & my friends made up for D&D campaigns when we were about 14.

So the whole thing is in cipher, and when you solve the cipher you get this hammy so-called "wisdom" that's like a bad joke version of Zen Buddhism.

[Trekkin]

Man, you're right, this stuff sounds like the stuff my sisters & my friends made up for D&D campaigns when we were about 14.

So the whole thing is in cipher, and when you solve the cipher you get this hammy so-called "wisdom" that's like a bad joke version of Zen Buddhism.

It also sounds like Dark Web crypto woo. I'm surprised they don't try to convince people to pupate via polymeric falcighol derivation.

Actually, based on that similarity, I have an idea for what Cicada actually is: it's a small group of self-taught crypto enthusiasts who have convinced themselves they've found something mind-boggling on the Dark Web though the usual forms of pareidolia and confirmation bias and so forth amplified by their attempts to decrypt random things. It'd be like Qanon if everyone involved tried to pick patterns out of the RGB values of pictures and so on.

Having decided they've found something -- or, in short order, lots of somethings, because these things tend to snowball -- they're very pleased with themselves but also kind of worried someone is going to come along and poke holes in it. Thus why the tests always go nowhere: they want to tell someone but the prospect of laying their cards on the table scares them, so they'll extend the tests ad infinitum and convince themselves that maybe next year the right candidate will come along, but this year's crop just isn't ready for the secret of eyearms or whatever it is. This will probably happen forever, so I'm not sure how one would differentiate this from trolling except by waiting.

[Reelya]

That brings us around to an older version of the same idea: Bible Codes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_code

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/The_Bible_Code

The best example of how meaningful Bible Codes and the like are where when Australian comedian / TV journalist John Safran used the works of Vanilla Ice to "predict" the 9/11 attacks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyNi7bYt0v0

[x2yzh9]

It is unfortunate, truly. I have been through too many harrowing circumstances within this life to just dismiss this. While I hate and despise any cult or form they may take, I do have knowledge that is pertinent to my life experience that directly correlates with this too. Dealt with too many lunatics in my life! It's the trump curse. Or, what is commonly referred to as the trump curse-that in and of itself which is widely believed by people to be this-that something akin to the grim reaper is coming along in life to people, and basically taking everything that they value to be good. Then, when they are left with absolutely nothing, their soul is revealed to be who they are;either someone that, at the end of the day, and in a time such as the purported 'end times' they would either lose they're soul to hell, the cult, or something because they would make a 'deal with the devil' beforehand to keep those things;or to endure the suffering of an earthly life. If you read the story of job, you know where they got this idea from. The alternative(in their mind) is to make it through such things and then when nothing is left to say, only a select few are left that would make it through such trials. It is odd that I would look at this the very first time and instantly draw the connections, and come to my conclusion.

But, as a disclaimer. I am a god-fearing christian, and absolutely no one can or will take that from me . I believe Lord Adomai-or the greek mythology version of Adonis is to be referenced here.

[x2yzh9]

That bears a striking semblance to word salad.

Well, the thing is, the whole thing is based on word salad. Essentially, if you could coin a term for positive dyslexia-based talent, this would be it. There are references to the WHO in there-the world health organization. I'm going to be approaching the subject tomorrow, and I will point out that in this news article-https://qz.com/1113692/cuba-sonic-attacks-havana-blames-crickets-and-cicadas-for-injuries-to-us-diplomats/
specifically, the cuban government stated that it was due to crickets and cicadas, well, when you point out the cult(cicada people) it reminds me of a very similar occurance that I underwent a couple years ago in my flat. It, was, for a sense, a setup. That was engineered by the same exact people that have coincidentally attacked the cuban embassy, and have access to what are in essence completely underground area-51 esque technology, that has gone into the hands of very, very wrong people. I will come to dispel my personal knowledge, but only on a need-to-know basis-considering I'm the one holding the key to figuring this out. And yes, a cult has access to sonic weapons-it's the world we live in. They worship the devil. The book of Eli(not referencing the movie)

It's not common knowledge, but the people that were attacked at the cuban embassy underwent the exact same thing I did, to a lesser or more major extent, I do not know. It is likely classified the actual symptoms and hallucinations they reported. However, I can guarantee you that people at the cuban embassy are now permanently damaged and injured, for life, as a result of this nefarious cult's actions. Absolutely vile.

[Egan_BW]

Drawing random connections between real things based on wordplay and then deciding that what you end up with must be true isn't a talent.

[MrRoboto75]

The aglets are sinister

[Trekkin]

I will come to dispel my personal knowledge, but only on a need-to-know basis-considering I'm the one holding the key to figuring this out.

Why you? What makes you special?

And it sounds like your personal knowledge is thoroughly dispelled already anyway. Do you have anything falsifiable to bring to our attention?

[dragdeler]

-snip-

[Reelya]

That bears a striking semblance to word salad.

Yeah. I have a strong feeling that if you turned x2yzh9's posts into a Markov Chain, and generated random posts, then showed them to people, nobody would be able to pick the real posts from the random ones.

[Il Palazzo]

the secret of eyearms

I just wanted to point out that 'The Secret of Eyearms' sounds like the title of a wonderful book for children, or a Studio Ghibli movie.