4 ms·
It seems to me that if I were doing something like this, I'd have some way of indoctrinating people without them knowing it. Some information or phrases that s
by wccrawford 15y ago
It seems to me that if I were doing something like this, I'd have some way of indoctrinating people without them knowing it. Some information or phrases that seem very commonplace and non-important, but will trigger certain responses when they're seen or heard again.
We've already got quite a few that are easily spotted by an enemy. When the national anthem plays, what do you do? It's pretty easy to spot people who don't know.
In fact, we already use this to spot enemy agents. They will react in odd ways to things that we think of as commonplace... Words and phrases that mean something in the culture, but on their own are meaningless... Or just have changed usage.
The only thing that makes me think the above is NOT what they used is that they said they would have to find a way to vary it. It takes time to make the above happen, but varying it isn't a problem other than that.
- bambax 15y ago> In fact, we already use this to spot enemy agents. They will react in odd ways to things that we think of as commonplace... This is used in Inglorious Basterds, where an American agent is found out because he counts to three with his three middle fingers instead of his three first fingers (including the thumb).
- bbk 15y agoIIRC it was an British Agent.
- hasslblad 15y agoThis has happened to British Agents before in WWII. I remember seeing a documentary about training British agents to infiltrate France. While in France one agent got caught out by asking for a black coffee. This was the default coffee at the time in France, people would just ask for a coffee and expect a black coffee. This made him stand out. There are similar stories like this in movies, such as the Great Escape, when one of the escaping prisoners is dressed as a civilian and is boarding a bus in town. A German Officer says in English "Good luck", the prisoner replies in English "thank you" and is caught.
- arethuza 15y agohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0wNl66tT3Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0wNl66tT3Q [Edit: As with all British males born in the 60s or 70s I have seen the Great Escape roughly 73,000 times].
- dalke 15y agoAsimov, I think it was, wrote a short story where the German spy during WWII was identified "or the gloom of the grave" as the words following "From the terror of flight." Those being from the third verse of the US National Anthem. Of course, few Americans know anything other than the first verse, but the over-prepared German didn't know that.