Speaker 1: From UFOs two, ghosts and government cover ups. History is
Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to now. Hello, everyone,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to stuff they don't want you to know.
Speaker 1: My name is Matt and my name is Ben. And
Speaker 1: today we're covering all of those cryptic things, the things
Speaker 1: that are hidden and encrypted, and you you're not supposed
Speaker 1: to know what it is. That's how you hide the
Speaker 1: stuff they don't want you to know. Ben, we're talking
Speaker 1: about it today, and specifically we're gonna be talking about
Speaker 1: Cicada three three oh one, which is a fascinating story
Speaker 1: and and whatever you want to believe it is. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is, Ben, I don't think you
Speaker 1: know what it is. Oh man. We have some ideas,
Speaker 1: some thoughts on it. I'm sure you do too. So
Speaker 1: as we're as we're going through this, we we want
Speaker 1: you to really tell us what you think or how
Speaker 1: how stupid we are or what we think, or tell
Speaker 1: us tell us how you agree or you just disagree.
Speaker 1: You want to hear from you. If you were if
Speaker 1: you were on four chance threat on B when this
Speaker 1: first came up, then let us know because, of course,
Speaker 1: one of the big possibilities for Cicada three three oh
Speaker 1: one is that it could be just a massive trolling,
Speaker 1: trolling effort by somebody or some group of people with
Speaker 1: either a lot of money, a lot of time, some
Speaker 1: college students they're board. However, just the effort and kind
Speaker 1: of the the smart way. It was done in the
Speaker 1: cool way, much like an alternate reality game. I mean, essentially,
Speaker 1: that's what it was. Um, I'm a man, I just
Speaker 1: wish I had the ability to do that. Oh well,
Speaker 1: you do. You just have to focus your time and
Speaker 1: plan ahead. Before we go any further, let's explain what
Speaker 1: Cicada three three oh one is for our listeners who
Speaker 1: haven't seen our video yet. All right, so back on
Speaker 1: in January, I think it was January four, two thousand twelve,
Speaker 1: there was a post and it was a it was
Speaker 1: on four Chan and what'd you say it was? And
Speaker 1: it was a message that said it was a picture
Speaker 1: and it said, hey, there's a message hidden inside this picture.
Speaker 1: We're we're looking for intelligent people. Um, come and find us,
Speaker 1: essentially like follow the path and you'll find us. And
Speaker 1: there were bread crumbs hidden in this picture. There was
Speaker 1: some information in the metadata the picture I believe, which
Speaker 1: ultimately points to some websites, and these go to increasingly
Speaker 1: difficult or obscure codes and references and puzzles. So when
Speaker 1: we looked at some of our cryptography material, um, you know,
Speaker 1: we did uh we did an episode on just an
Speaker 1: intro to cryptography to build up to go to Cicado,
Speaker 1: which has some cryptography involved, but also just has some
Speaker 1: straight up puzzling stuff. Yeah. Yeah, and references to historic materials,
Speaker 1: occult sources. Mandius was involved at one point. And the
Speaker 1: the interesting thing is that this also spills over into
Speaker 1: the real world. It's not just online. The big question
Speaker 1: has always been what, who and why. Well, let's go
Speaker 1: over some of the possibilities and I'll just throw some
Speaker 1: out at you. You tell me what you think, alright,
Speaker 1: and vice versa. You go absolutely first one that it's
Speaker 1: some kind of intelligence agency trial or a recruitment. Uh. Possibly,
Speaker 1: I would say, but only possibly in that I could
Speaker 1: see a private contractor that's hired by an intelligence agency
Speaker 1: doing that. An intelligence agency itself would have a little
Speaker 1: bit more difficult time. Case in point, Google and am
Speaker 1: I five have both had things like this. You know,
Speaker 1: billboards at the sage you want to join, here's the
Speaker 1: break this code, and they'll lead you to the website.
Speaker 1: And Google at least came out and said that they
Speaker 1: didn't get great results or great hires from this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I can. I can kind of imagine someone who
Speaker 1: has enough free time to go through take the effort
Speaker 1: that it would take to do that. Okay, I've got
Speaker 1: one for you. Yes, all right. What if it's just uh,
Speaker 1: some more obnoxious viral marketing. I would say, if it
Speaker 1: is some kind of viral marketing, they're they're doing an
Speaker 1: ineffective there. They're not doing a great job just because
Speaker 1: there's not much branding there besides the Cicada word. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if you do what we did where
Speaker 1: you you're just searching the internet and trying to find
Speaker 1: more information, and there's no game that's kind of related
Speaker 1: to it. There's no there's no book or movie. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't think so, all right, But to
Speaker 1: your point, will both feel kind of foolish when Cicada
Speaker 1: Man thirty three oh one comes out, you know, in
Speaker 1: March or something. Yeah, maybe, but it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: an early start. When you say and just because they
Speaker 1: did it again. And you know, if you if you,
Speaker 1: if you get to the end, let's say, let's say
Speaker 1: you get to all the way to the end of
Speaker 1: this crumb trail, allegedly you find one of these posters
Speaker 1: that they had up in the real world in cities
Speaker 1: all over the United States, and nobody knows who made it, Like,
Speaker 1: it's not people who do make it don't talk about it.
Speaker 1: There's been one. I've seen one post of somebody who
Speaker 1: actually completed the game and it was allegedly nobody who
Speaker 1: completed the aim. And well, let let me throw one
Speaker 1: back to you, because this is what this person said. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he said, it's essentially a secret organization and secret society
Speaker 1: of sorts that has very specific beliefs about philosophy about
Speaker 1: how the world should be, and they want to they
Speaker 1: want to make changes in the world according to those beliefs. Right, yeah,
Speaker 1: So what do you think? Um? Is it? Are? You
Speaker 1: ask me? Is it possible that that global think tank
Speaker 1: idea is real? Well? Yeah, is it real? How plausible
Speaker 1: is it? Uh? It's it's totally plausible. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: totally possible, But it's also plausible because the world is
Speaker 1: full of people who start think tanks like this, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's a commune or some people who get together
Speaker 1: and say, hey, you know what we should do, um
Speaker 1: plant more trees, you know, or you know, you know
Speaker 1: what we should do is kill more eagles. It doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily have to be a good idea. I'm saying people
Speaker 1: band together for that kind of stuff all the time
Speaker 1: because they Everybody likes to feel like you're they're changing
Speaker 1: the world, right, and part of a group. People love
Speaker 1: being part of a group, man. And from this, I
Speaker 1: think it I think it could be possible. But also
Speaker 1: also you have to wonder, all right, let's do the ifs.
Speaker 1: Big if if this is true, as an if he
Speaker 1: really received a letter and it is true, which is
Speaker 1: a huge if, um, then that leads us to a
Speaker 1: second if. And that if, which is also big, is
Speaker 1: if these people are really um actualizing the philosophy that
Speaker 1: they have. Then that leads us to a third thing.
Speaker 1: The only way to see that or to measure that,
Speaker 1: would be to see concrete effects in the world that
Speaker 1: are traceable to this group. And at this point, the
Speaker 1: only thing that's happened that has been clearly identified as
Speaker 1: of this group would be the papers, the paper posters
Speaker 1: of cicadas um, which is not I think not the
Speaker 1: end goal of this group if they are legit. So
Speaker 1: with all those copyats in place, it's it's possible, But
Speaker 1: I I still don't have enough information to say one
Speaker 1: way or the other. Here's what I had a conversation
Speaker 1: with my friend Nick the other day and he, uh,
Speaker 1: he came up with an interesting idea. What if this
Speaker 1: is kind of a snare. It's a it's a trap
Speaker 1: catch the best and the brightest hackers that maybe that
Speaker 1: some group feels would be anti their establishment. Let's see these. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well that's that's pretty. And yeah, once you get to
Speaker 1: the end of the tunnel, it's bye bye because nobody
Speaker 1: knows you got there. M hmm. It's not only just
Speaker 1: straight to Guantanamo. Oh boy, Well that's a fascinating idea
Speaker 1: because it makes me think of a pretty scary what if.
Speaker 1: Um So, people used to think it was crazy that
Speaker 1: the n s A would be monitoring everything you do
Speaker 1: on the internet. Every they know what pornography look at.
Speaker 1: Incognito mode is not saving you, guys, No, it's not.
Speaker 1: But it's fine unless you're into something illegal. I'm sure
Speaker 1: it's just dirt that will be kept on you in
Speaker 1: case you go the wrong way. Isn't that the how
Speaker 1: the conspiracy theory goes. Yeah, the good thing that I
Speaker 1: take solace in is that, um, unfortunately a lot of
Speaker 1: people look at porn, so it's not that big a deal.
Speaker 1: Just don't feel too bad, guy listening to this right
Speaker 1: now while you're looking at porn. It's okay. You're You're
Speaker 1: gonna be okay, don't worry about it's not it's weird though.
Speaker 1: That's a weird situation right now. I am really sorry
Speaker 1: to call you out like this, but you know who
Speaker 1: you are. Be cool, man, Be cool. But the reason
Speaker 1: that we bring up this idea of this, this sort
Speaker 1: of panopticon situation wherein someone's entire life online and in
Speaker 1: the real world can be monitored, is to say that
Speaker 1: with this information, it is possible, again possible, maybe not plausible,
Speaker 1: that an intelligence agency would be able to take the metadata,
Speaker 1: construct the um the perfect demographic thing, maybe to catch
Speaker 1: just one person. So maybe they know enough about a
Speaker 1: group of people where they where they were able to
Speaker 1: build a profile and they said, well, the kind of
Speaker 1: person that we are looking to catch has a love
Speaker 1: of Victorian literature, a little bit of a maybe a rash,
Speaker 1: a little libertarian bent uh has a love of puzzles.
Speaker 1: They like these animals. They most they're most likely. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, because is it Is it plausible? Now, that's
Speaker 1: a lot of work. Is it possible? Sure? And that
Speaker 1: to me, um makes for at least a very good
Speaker 1: short story. Yeah. The lesson is just don't do anything
Speaker 1: to piss off U enough for them to want to
Speaker 1: target you and spend the time and effort, right, And
Speaker 1: you have to wonder, if Cicada three three oh one
Speaker 1: is real, then are are they going to be gunning
Speaker 1: for us? I don't think so, because if anything, we're
Speaker 1: just we're just fascinated. And if it's just some eleven
Speaker 1: year old kid brilliant and his internet friends, then h
Speaker 1: that's amazing. And you know what if it's if it's
Speaker 1: like a forty year old person and or a group
Speaker 1: of four year old people, it's still it's still fascinating.
Speaker 1: Because these posters went up around the world globally, and
Speaker 1: that's the most impressive part, you know, from Soul Korea,
Speaker 1: Soul South Korea to u y E to what we
Speaker 1: should look up and see if you're how how close
Speaker 1: they were to embassies. I'd be interested to know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how close each one of those posters was to an
Speaker 1: embassy or if there was a really at the panner,
Speaker 1: because I haven't truly looked at the pattern of where
Speaker 1: these things were placed. Yeah, we weren't able to do
Speaker 1: that for this episode. But but if they if there
Speaker 1: was any intelligence agency related to this, uh, they sure
Speaker 1: as hell would not put it near their own embassies.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, absolutely, So you're thinking these are all
Speaker 1: near the U. S. Embassies must be the Russians? Well right,
Speaker 1: I mean I don't know that. I don't know. But
Speaker 1: one last thing I know. We have to wrap up
Speaker 1: ben Uh. I actually have a small team of guys
Speaker 1: that are going to be trying, if it happens again
Speaker 1: in early January, who are going to be trying to
Speaker 1: solve it. Um. I am not going to be very
Speaker 1: helpful on this team, but I'm going to be on
Speaker 1: along for the journey to see what happens. Oh wow,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. Maybe you can come back and updates. Maybe
Speaker 1: if they're cool with it, bring bring one of them
Speaker 1: in for an interview. Oh yeah, absolutely, it's actually that
Speaker 1: guy I was telling you about. Nick. Okay, Yeah, Nick
Speaker 1: the white hat cool. Alright, Well, as long as he's
Speaker 1: a good wizard, Uh, then let's let's have him on
Speaker 1: this show if something happens with Cicada. Uh. The reason
Speaker 1: that people think that January four Third Team may bring
Speaker 1: something new from this group is that they've been relatively quiet.
Speaker 1: Apparently they if the puzzles are real, they've been contacting
Speaker 1: the people figuring it out directly rather than sending open statements. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they make them open up a brand new email UM
Speaker 1: that's never been used before so they can have contact. Yes,
Speaker 1: and uh, this idea, this guess, this speculation is based
Speaker 1: entirely on the cyclical nature of the UM statements, right,
Speaker 1: because the January four a few years ago to January
Speaker 1: four in the coming year. So we will have to
Speaker 1: do one of my least favorite things, which is wait. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll just have to wait, and you know how I
Speaker 1: hate that. But uh, but in the meantime, we're gonna
Speaker 1: be off working on some other fascinating things that we
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy as much as we do. And well,
Speaker 1: in some cases, enjoy is not the right word. But
Speaker 1: I'm more big the fascination with uh in the meantime, Matt,
Speaker 1: Where can people find us? You can find us on
Speaker 1: Facebook We're conspiracy Stuff. You can find us on Twitter,
Speaker 1: We're at Conspiracy Stuff. You can head on over to
Speaker 1: test tube and check out all of our videos or YouTube.
Speaker 1: You can even we're on iTunes too. If you're listening
Speaker 1: to this on iTunes, just click over to the video
Speaker 1: podcast tab and my us. What would mean even more
Speaker 1: to us is if you write in with suggestions for
Speaker 1: upcoming episodes or topics, whether on our video stuff or
Speaker 1: our audio stuff. This is going to be something that
Speaker 1: we're really excited about because every time that we have
Speaker 1: a new format, every time we have listeners able to
Speaker 1: interact with us in a different way than we all
Speaker 1: start making some better stuff. You know. Yeah, we we
Speaker 1: improved together. Yes, it's pretty cool. A rising tide carries
Speaker 1: all vessels. Do you want to hop on board the
Speaker 1: high seas of this show? Oh? That was ridiculous? That
Speaker 1: one hurt. Well, if you will also forgive that horrible analogy,
Speaker 1: you can send us an email directly. Our address is
Speaker 1: conspiracy at Discovery dot com. From more on this topic,
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