13 ms·
Blackmail fail
- Crito 13y ago"Forget the complete absence of the evidence I asked for, this seemed like it was written by someone in the throes of full-blown psychosis or mania or schizophrenia with meaningless plans to somehow revolutionize the world." Realizing that this actually is a distinct possibility is important for anybody interested in talking with random people on the internet. Mental illness is prevalent, and there is little keeping the mentally ill off of the internet.
- toyg 13y ago"prevalent"? Do you know more mentally-ill people than sane people? Common, maybe. Probably underestimated in number, sure. Prevalent, I do hope not!
- Crito 13y agoApparently it depends on which dictionary/thesaurus you check, but "common" seems to be a reasonably well accepted synonym of "prevalent".
- bede 13y agoPrevalence does not imply majority.
- Crito 13y agoIt probably did at one point. Oxford has "predominant" (which would imply majority) as an archaic meaning: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/prevalent http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_eng...
- allannienhuis 13y agohmm, I would have thought that's exactly what it implied. Isn't the root 'prevail', which is more or less 'to win'? That would suggest a majority.
- losethos 13y agoIf I'm not the center of the universe, how do you watch me? Radio says "Terry, take your meds, cause you're crazy." I say "fuck you". I can prove God. I made His temple. It doesn't take a genius to figure-out hardware companies are going to comply and secureboot will be retracted. God says... fine Thus uncorrupted that's_no_fun step uphold conversations heed converse ones openly washing burthen Greenland leaveth fasting items how_bout_it comment attributed protraction preferred NO steps comparison forgiven x True tide reside studies' SUCH floating theft bestow Seven encompass net/donation pitiable willest wronging Academicians compact equals added perceiving abundantly firmament jarring quicken Circensian fain mysterious country-house excellency Paraclete unemployed hypertext reputed associate numberest arose descending ascribe noon Omnipotency mysteries Moreover bemoaning richer motherly hundred vain-glory realities you_don't_say
- thorum 13y agoThe dead comment below seems unusually relevant.
- scarmig 13y agoFor anyone interested, the deaded comment below isn't a random attempt to prove that mentally ill people abound on the internet: he's a regular who posts similar things all the time. It's a pity, because in his moments of lucidity he seems pretty smart.
- jcutrell 13y agoFor more info on losethos, take a look at http://www.templeos.org/ http://www.templeos.org/ - this is an OS he apparently wrote without assistance.
- pvnick 13y agoI also recommend watching this video where he demos the operating system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpujlg-XhEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpujlg-XhEs Losethos's real name is Terry Davis. His video had me awestruck, laughing (he can be pretty funny and relatable), and just all-around amazed at the man's sheer brilliance. I cannot begin to fathom the dedication that it must have taken to create such a piece of software, especially in the face of constant rejection from people on the internet because of his schizophrenia.
- Houshalter 13y agoAnother good reason to stay anonymous and never use your real name online.
- Crito 13y agoAbsolutely. Before I began divorcing my online identity from my 'real' identity^, I had several nutters try to reach out and effect my life 'in the real world'. Dredging through old posts, calling ex-employers, etc. All because they felt slighted for various absurd reasons. Normally when you have problems with a person like this, you can go to the police and get a restraining order. It becomes harder when it is online because you have to weight the possibility that anything that you do to defend yourself might get them closer to finding you. These days I find myself being fairly sensitive to 'craziness', whenever I get the slightest whiff of it I break off the conversation completely. I'm not a professional who is trained in how to deal with people with these sort of problems, so I am not going to attempt it. ^ Technically I was not using my real name, but a pseudonym that was unique enough to only return results relevant to me when googled. I've since taken to using names of characters from history or fiction as my pseudonyms, and picking new ones at least once a year.
- DanBC 13y ago> I had several nutters try to reach out and effect my life 'in the real world'. They might not have had any mental illness, and might have just been unpleasant people. > These days I find myself being fairly sensitive to 'craziness', whenever I get the slightest whiff of it I break off the conversation completely. I am crazy. I've had treatment for a long term, severe, mental illness, from specialist mental health service providers. That illness has caused some admissions to general hospitals. My illness has sometimes affected my posts to HN. (Although I'm pretty good at setting noprocast when needed). I know many people who have spent time in mental health hospitals for severe and enduring mental illness. I let you know so that you can adjust your filters accordingly.
- nullc 13y ago> Another good reason to stay anonymous and never use your real name online I suppose thats a good plan, until someone decides that you'd make a good subject to use to "emphasize to the whole world that privacy is really important because anonymity is highly limited & breakable for even the most competent and motivated person". (I'm quoting Gwern's comments about his own initiative to unmask Satoshi.)
- Eliezer 13y agoI would recommend against having dealings with the obviously mentally ill. I'm not sure in what sense you might be legally liable (for a civil suit) if they happened to commit suicide a week later and mentioned you in the note. Also, psychiatrists may be in many cases working off falsified doctrines just like any other doctor, but also like any other doctor, they really do know important things layfolk don't. Leave the clearly crazy to the professionals. Though if this is your first real crazy caller I could understand where the fascination came from. About... 15 years ago...? I got that email from someone who insisted that all I really needed to know was the Periodic Table of the Elements in which all answers were contained. It took me a while to get that this was not someone I could save by argument.
- moocowduckquack 13y agoThere aren't enough professionals. Also, fear of civil suits from the potentially suicidal is rarely a particularly noble reason to refuse to talk to them.
- Crito 13y agoNobility or honor has little to do with it. I am not convinced the fear of a lawsuit is grounded, but either way that is a pragmatic concern, not some argument about what is honorable. I would caution people against it if only because it will very often be a waste of time and quite possibly a source of unnecessary stress.
- moocowduckquack 13y agoIs just showing some basic empathy. Pragmatism doesn't need to get in the way of being nice to people.
- Crito 13y ago> Pragmatism doesn't need to get in the way of being nice to people. You're right, it doesn't. 'gwern could politely break off the conversation when it becomes apparent that the person has some issues to work out, or he could simply stop responding. You don't have to break off the conversation rudely. This said, he hardly owes anybody trying to blackmail him a polite response. If somebody is trying to blackmail you and you are pretty sure they are way off-base, it is probably best to make a general policy of /dev/null-ing their messages.
- bobbles 13y agoAs someone who knows little about encryption or who this gwern guy is, this was still a fascinating read. It's like hearing a joke or seeing a 'funny' picture that someone finds absolutely hilarious but just doesn't affect you in any way. (In that, someone could have such a different state of mind that it seems almost incomprehensible)
- hobs 13y agoI have seen occasional highly voted posts with write ups on effects of various drugs. They are generally pretty interesting. Seems like a cool guy to have a conversation with/have a beer with, I would read through his site a bit more, you might like it.
- tvladeck 13y agoThis isn't pretty. Gwern doesn't look good here, messing with someone that was clearly mentally ill. Even at the end when he breaks this opinion he positions himself in a smugly superior way, insincerely offering this analysis.
- hoilogoi 13y agoI disagree that jack0fnone is mentally ill. I see him as a 14 year old. It's perfectly understandable that a 14 year old might go through a bitcoin phase, be awestruck by gwern.net, daydream up these crazy ideas. Kids go through crazy phases and still mature into stable, reasonable adults. Edit: To me, the writing style seems very teenager-ish as well, though I don't have a good baseline for mentally unstable writing.
- bmelton 13y agoIt struck me as someone who was earnestly trying to appear more educated than they are, or someone who'd recently (re)read "A Confederacy of Dunces". That said, the thought occurred to me that it might be someone aware of how easily one would otherwise be able to match up their linguistic patterns and identify them to another online persona, and that perhaps they were actively trying to combat that. The former scenarios are completely contrary to the former, and it shouldn't be forgotten that this is all very recent, and not something that concluded years, months, weeks, or even days ago, so it's possible we haven't seen the last of it.
- Crito 13y agoIt's possible (personally I don't think it is likely) but either way I think that it is best to not engage with this person. Either they are a teenager who has some learning and growing up to do, or somebody who needs to be treated.. but the end result is the same.
- hncomment 13y agoThe delusion that many people are actually one person recurs in mental illness, there's probably even a name for it. Coupled with insecurity, it might lead to paranoia and feelings of persecution by a powerful puppet-master. Here it seems paired with grandiose delusions, perhaps because the person is otherwise intelligent & high-functioning, or using drugs which create a sense of invulnerability. Either way, there are strong indicators of mental illness. I would put joking (or trolling) as-if-mentally-ill as a second-place possibility, and teen-daydreams as a third-place possibility. But maybe all three in different proportions.
- sciguy77 13y agoI feel like mocking and toying with someone clearly mentally ill is pretty unethical.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- dobbsbob 13y agoRandom fruit cake blackmail is nothing new. I KNOW UR THE PRESIDENT anybody who's posted on shady forums full of drug addicts will get these laughable bm attempts. Stringing them along is the worst possible solution just ignore them and they find a new conspiracy. Now this nutjob will never cease to harrass Gwern because he knows he will get attention.
- nullc 13y agoMinor pangs of irony seeing Gwern whine about being accused of being Satoshi while he's been concurrently been stalking and accusing people of being Satoshi himself. ... complete with a misuse of "we" and claims of secretive methodologies.
- nullc 13y agoGwern responded unfavorably to a similar comment I made on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1thnq3/i_am_not_satoshi_nakamoto_please_stop_trying_to/ce882bz?context=3 http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1thnq3/i_am_not_sat...
- gwern 13y ago> complete with a misuse of "we" 'Misuse'? That's a fascinating claim. How could you know that to be a 'misuse'? I've collaborated with at least 4 people on various points; does that not justify a 'we'? > and claims of secretive methodologies. No, the methodology is not very impressive, it's just that if I explain the method, the result is easily figured out.
- ChristianMarks 13y agoThis sounds familiar: I am but an impoverished writer who barely makes ends meet...
- alecsmart1 13y agoAm a little lost. Can someone explain the background of this post? What are these extortion messages and why is he receiving them for usernames of a site etc.?
- unclesaamm 13y agoSorry, but you can handle this much better. Aka not engaging. You aren't sending any message, except trying to show that you're sophisticated enough to mess with some spammers. I said this in a comment to you on reddit, but this line was just fluff: "Hence by backward induction, there is a clear decision-theoretic verdict against paying you any sum."
- gwern 13y ago> I said this in a comment to you on reddit, but this line was just fluff: "Hence by backward induction, there is a clear decision-theoretic verdict against paying you any sum." My reply to this off-base criticism: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1thnq3/i_am_not_satoshi_nakamoto_please_stop_trying_to/ce8a4j7 http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1thnq3/i_am_not_sat... (At least you got the quote right here.)
- sbierwagen 13y agoWayback link, since gwern.net is down right now: https://web.archive.org/web/20131223023402/http://www.gwern.net/Blackmail https://web.archive.org/web/20131223023402/http://www.gwern....
- petepete 13y ago> The ransom value decreases over time following exponential decay with a half-life of 365/2=182.5 days. It's obviously someone taking the piss.
- Aloha 13y agoThis guy clearly rode the crazy bus to crazytown.
- ohJBYZtMrhslkGd 13y agoRegarding dead dog, I wonder if this is related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnfPH6zQbXo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnfPH6zQbXo
- kybernetikos 13y agoThe prose is strange enough in some of the earlier messages that I wondered if there's steganography being used. Although since it seems like jack is simultaneously trying to blackmail and become a disciple of gwern, I suppose it's more likely that he just wanted to write something he thought would impress & intrigue him.
- fiskkastanj 13y agoDear Gwern, I very much appreciate everything you write. Your blog is in my top 3 quality blogs, nay, if not top 1! But the posts are long. It's not something I say proudly, but often I read the first 3 pages but then lose focus and willpower. Maybe it's because English is my second language, maybe it's because there's so much to do in a day. Not saying dumb-down. But if say 15% of readings end like they sometimes do for me, that's a big loss. Both for your reach and for the readers, who like me fail to get all the good stuff in there. So as a fan giving feedback: a bit terser would not be wrong. I'm trying, and I'm using programs that let me 'save' my progress in a long text and get back after a coffee, but it's sometimes hard. (Ironically, this is a big-ass 4 paragraph comment, haha)
- gwern 13y agoI'm not sure what I can do about that. My posts aren't long (I think) because I spend a ton of space using sesquidealian and periphastic circumlocutions; what is there to cut?
- ChristianMarks 13y agoNot to mention paralipsis.
- jqm 13y agoAmusing read. Not sure I agree w/ the mental illness diagnosis though. Sounds more like a person (who maybe should lay off the stuff) taking wild guesses and hoping to score. In his mind - big upside, little effort/downside risk.