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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: MetaCortechs » MetaCortechs: General/Updates
[SPEC] Who or what is .bh?
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xnbomb
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 		[SPEC] Who or what is .bh?
I'm not sure whether to put this topic in Puzzles or General Updates. I've settled on Puzzles because it is basically about who or what .bh in the hacker conversations is. But, if my ideas prove right, maybe this has bigger implications than just a puzzle does. (EDIT: Anthrax101 has spoken ... General Updates it is Very Happy )

1) I recently suggested that .bh in the hacker conversations may very well be an AI. I'm not the first to suggest this idea in this forum ... and there's a reasonable amount of evidence for it. Consider the following:

-In the carefully files, most messages express a notion like 'I made it, I'm here'. The .bh file says 'I CAN SEE YOU'. Since the carelessly meeting is theoretically secret, accessible only to those who know to look at the paintover image and then successfully interpret it, it's a slightly different kind of sentiment. To me it says, 'I know you weren't expecting me, but I found my way here too, and I know the rest of you are here'. I also have an idea about why .bh communicates using the kind of files it does ... see that below.

-In the silvia files, .bh opens with 'WHOMP!' in the image. .doc responds pretty quickly with 'machine?'. After a few comments about something not human being responsible for the whomp (including one using the metaphor of a huge robot scuffing its feet), .bh responds with silvia2.bh saying 'I HAVE TINY FEET'. I read that response as 'I am responsible for the whomp but don't have huge feet'. Caesar changes the subject at this point ... maybe he doesn't want anyone paying too much attention to .bh? Hmm.

2) The .bh file extension was identified earlier to be a BlackHole archive format file. What is a black hole anyways? It's something that you can get trapped in ... something you can get into but can't get out of ... like a labyrinth. Many think MetaCortech's AI might be code-named Labyrinth.

3) I've been thinking about the nature of how paintover images specify where hacker conversations will occur, and something has occurred to me: Yesterday I was using NetworkSolutions' whois. One of things it does is require you to look at an image and copy a code shown in that image into a text box. This is a common technique that is used to make sure a human is on the other end, rather than a script that is going to send lots of queries through automation. The interesting thing here is that putting text in an image is a technique that is being used to thwart a computer from reading the text (well, reading it easily anyhow ... pattern recognition makes it possible for computers to do this, but it is time-consuming and uncertain enough that is sufficient to thwart someone from writing a script that uses pattern recognition techniques so they can read the code in the image and send lots of queries to that whois).

This applies here in two ways: Firstly, from just who (or what) are the paintover images' messages supposed to be secret? Maybe from something not human. Why? Because to look at a paintover image and figure out where the conversation will occur, you need to do two things: You need to be able to read text in an image (a weak anti-computer test, as described above) and consult some source on literature (to find the missing word and who spoke the text originally, that part would be easy for a computer) to get the username and filename. You also need to be able to interpret abstract imagery to identify words that will be an URL, directory, and password (a much stronger test of a computer's abilities ... nothing short of an AI with something like consciousness has much hope of doing this). I think Caesar may have chosen the style of paintover image clues specifically to thwart an AI from identifying where the conversations would be, since I think they are talking about an AI.

Secondly, look at the kind of files .bh uses to communicate. The messages are text in an image. It's a statement that says 'I can read text in an image, that's not going to keep me out'. That sort of resonates to me through carelessly.bh: 'I CAN SEE YOU'. It says that not only does .bh know they are conversing at that location, but it points out that it can read text in an image easily (for .bh pattern recognition is a piece of cake?).

Furthermore, .bh can do what you wouldn't expect a computer to be able to do: It can identify the URL, directory, and password through the successful interpretation of abstract imagery. It can see in something like the sense that people can see (i.e. it can pick out objects in an image and figure out what they are), and can reason in something like the sense that people can reason (it can then figure out abstract relationships between those objects to find where the conversations will occur).

Finally, .bh has a sense of irony ... and tosses this part of it right back in our hackers' faces: What is the object that they (and we) need to recognize in .bh's images? A strange attractor ... something that swirls towards its center ... it's a black hole. And what does that abstract image convey in my line of reasoning? I am Labyrinth.

I titled this thread speculation, because all this is in no way certain or provable at this point. But given the informtion we have at this point, it hangs together in a very satisfying way. The more I think about it, the more I like it.

(Thanks to bagsbee and trip for getting me thinking about this. Bagsbee's topic in General Updates http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2936 on how we solve puzzles is one of things that got me thinking along these lines, along with trip's post on the formula for solving paintover images http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=23341#23341)

PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 4:44 pm
Last edited by xnbomb on Mon Oct 27, 2003 7:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
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bWF0cml4IHN1Y2tz
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 		That's good stuff! Very Happy

PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 5:22 pm
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XtRaVa
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 		Good ideas, although the AI being able to have a sense of irony etc would seem completely inplausable irl, or to the hackers...we know that the AI in the matrix can do just that, to the standard of humans...so yeah this .bh could very well be a piece of AI...and the thing about it being Black Hole makes sense too...I mean the pic's where it says "whomp" and "i can see you" (said by the ai) does look like a blackhole swirling, and yes...we have seen mention of "labyrinth" between metacortech employees etc.

Good points Smile

PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 5:53 pm
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bjc
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 		Nice
I like the way you think, xnbomb.

xnbomb wrote:
Finally, .bh has a sense of irony ... and tosses this part of it right back in our hackers' faces: What is the object that they (and we) need to recognize in .bh's images? A strange attractor ... something that swirls towards its center ... it's a black hole. And what does that abstract image convey in my line of reasoning? I am Labyrinth.

That strange attractor (not really 'abstract' but a simulation of the Lorenz system, e.g. here) has trajectories that diverge exponentially (i.e. mathematical chaos) -- this means that no matter how close you are to the "way out", you are still lost (unless you are exactly on the true path out). That sounds a lot like a Labyrinth to me!

This almost sells it to me, but it's probably just my professional sensibilities talking.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 6:05 pm
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Marauder
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 		Re: Nice
bjc wrote:
I like the way you think, xnbomb.

xnbomb wrote:
Finally, .bh has a sense of irony ... and tosses this part of it right back in our hackers' faces: What is the object that they (and we) need to recognize in .bh's images? A strange attractor ... something that swirls towards its center ... it's a black hole. And what does that abstract image convey in my line of reasoning? I am Labyrinth.

That strange attractor (not really 'abstract' but a simulation of the Lorenz system, e.g. here) has trajectories that diverge exponentially (i.e. mathematical chaos) -- this means that no matter how close you are to the "way out", you are still lost (unless you are exactly on the true path out). That sounds a lot like a Labyrinth to me!

This almost sells it to me, but it's probably just my professional sensibilities talking.


Everything posted in this thread so far sounds good to me!

PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 7:01 pm
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xnbomb
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 		A corollary
Thanks very much for the kudos. It's not often that I get as excited about an idea as I am about this one. I'm very open to criticism and discussion about it, though. I would to be very happy to read others' thoughts on this matter.

xnbomb wrote:
I think Caesar may have chosen the style of paintover image clues specifically to thwart an AI from identifying where the conversations would be, since I think they are talking about an AI.

An interesting thing that follows from this idea is that if Caesar chose the style of paintover image clues to thwart discovery by an AI, this implies that Caesar knows about the AI's existence. I know we have tried to keep open minds and avoid mapping MetaCortechs characters to hacker characters, because we haven't had any evidence that supports a connection.

However, this might just be the first bit of information that can tie those worlds together: If Caesar has put all this together to monitor the AI's activities (through this network of hackers with access to various loggers), whilst trying to keep the monitoring secret (both from the AI and from the hackers themselves in terms of just what they are doing), this suggests to me that Caesar might just be someone very knowledgable about what MetaCortechs is doing.

Add in the fact that Scratch posted the bigmclargehuge files right at metacortechs.com to get Caesar's full attention, which Caesar really didn't like (bigmclargehuge3.jpg):
Quote:
Dude, what are you doing? I should pull these files, we shouldn't be here. What are you up to? Where'd you get that pic? We gotta talk IRL.

Caesar clearly doesn't want the hacker gang thinking that this is about MetaCortechs, and/or doesn't want to draw MetaCortechs' attention to their activities. Caesar knows about MetaCortechs' AI and is on the run from MetaCortechs. Caesar must have been someone important at MetaCortechs before, maybe James Avery.

Add in Scratch's recent accusation that he leveled at Caesar in bigmclargehuge2.mic:
Quote:
I know what's up with you, with him, with HER, with your off-the-grid homeboy lie that you've been living. you're on the run, kid, and they're going to find you, i bet. any day now, with their smarts and their code and their ways of making you NOT EXIST.

It reads to me like Scratch is suggesting Caesar is http://heismissing.info, her being http://sheismissing.info. How about 'him'? Perhaps Steven Walsh, the rival who replaced Avery. There perhaps is a faint suggestion of a love triangle here: Walsh and Avery would be fighting over control of MetaCortechs, its AI, and the love of a woman. That always adds some genuine passion to a disagreement!

(EDIT: This part of this theory has subsequently been refined a bit thanks to intelligent objections by marl64, AnthraX101, and omnie ... see posts below)

This, of course, is all based on speculation at this point. But the references and logic are internally consistent. It fits together right in a way that makes a lot of pieces that we have make sense in the context of each other. That doesn't make it correct, but is does make it reasonable and possible.

P.S. Scratch has known (or at least suspected) this had something to do with MetaCortechs for a while now. Going back to silvia3.mic:
Quote:
i bet that spike was just a bad thunderstorm in redland

Maybe the hackers are sysadmins at various nodes in a private network backbone held by MetaCortechs/underscore? That might explain why they can post these files on URLs hosted by underscore, and some of the oblique hints at the nature of the network they talk about. A thunderstorm in Redland might explain the weirdness they see on the respective nodes that they are monitoring because its the central node of the network. From http://www.underscorehosting.com/dedicated/index.htm:
Quote:
Underscore Dedicated Servers provide the power of our expertise with the bandwidth and stability of our "Meta-Class" infrastructure. All dedicated servers are housed in a Tier-1 MetaCortex MetaCenter outside of Redland, WA.


PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 2:37 pm
Last edited by xnbomb on Wed Oct 29, 2003 3:12 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Marl64
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 		The theory is looking good so far. Very Happy

But something struck me when reading your last post, that hadn't clicked before.

"with your off-the-grid homeboy lie that you've been living"

What exactly is the lie in this? That he's a homeboy?

Or the "off the grid" bit. Which backs up the idea of somebody in Metacortex - who would definitely be on the grid.

But then we have "on the run", which seems to suggest the missing people.

Does this mean literelly - as in an ex employee actually running away.

Or could it refer to his hacker persona, jumping from system to system and trying to cover his tracks so they don't trace him back to his place of work?

He's on the grid and trying to hide the fact with his "off-the-grid homeboy lie"

It's now not so much thinking outside the box as - "where was that box again?" Very Happy


Edit: Clarity
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 3:35 pm
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AnthraX101
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Quote:
I know what's up with you, with him, with HER, with your off-the-grid homeboy lie that you've been living.


The phrasing is confusing, but I think that "you" is caesar, "him" is heismissing, and "HER" is sheismissing. I don't think at the moment that caesar and heismissing are the same person.

AnthraX101

PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 3:38 pm
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Omnie
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AnthraX101 wrote:
Quote:
I know what's up with you, with him, with HER, with your off-the-grid homeboy lie that you've been living.


The phrasing is confusing, but I think that "you" is caesar, "him" is heismissing, and "HER" is sheismissing. I don't think at the moment that caesar and heismissing are the same person.

AnthraX101


I second that. Very Happy Furthermore, we need to remember that the .jpgs of s/heismissing.info are hosted at paintover.net. This implies to me that Caesar is looking for the two. I know we can't assume that paintover is Caesar's personal domain, but you have to admit it looks like it...and scratch just hacked into it for the mysterious pic posting. (?) If it isn't personally Caesar's, then it certainly belongs to the hackers, since it isn't being used for any legitimate purpose besides the posting of pics...on the main page, no less, so they aren't just hacking into some poor guy's site.

Hey, if Scratch hacked paintover.net to post his pic, maybe he also got full access and saw the two mysterious jpegs that were hosted on it. That would explain how he knew about "him" and "HER."

Is it just me, or is the storyline actually getting interesting? Must be all the "drama." Very Happy

PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 3:51 pm
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bWF0cml4IHN1Y2tz
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 		"Off the grid" typically refers to someone who is actively avoiding electronic networks of any kind, whether they be the Internet, electronic banking, cellular networks, etc. Most people go "off the grid" because they don't want to be found. Others, who are just naturally paranoid or tired of the modern technological rat chase, go "off the grid" as a lifestyle choice.

I wouldn't read too much into the "homeboy" remark. I think that's just an embellishment thrown in by the writer. Very Happy Anyone who has claimed to go off the grid, yet continues hacking, would certainly be living a lie.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 3:55 pm
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xnbomb
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 		Pronoun confusion
AnthraX101 wrote:
The phrasing is confusing, but I think that "you" is caesar, "him" is heismissing, and "HER" is sheismissing. I don't think at the moment that caesar and heismissing are the same person.

Yeah, I do wonder about that. Many have suggested heismissing is Avery, but I suppose we don't know that for certain (EDIT: Sure we do ... Beth refers to files Ormond has on the missing couple, and describes the picture as being Avery). I do like the idea of Avery being Caesar though ... MetaCortechs having been the empire that he built.

Could the ismissing couple be Ethan and Dina Nekoda? That could explain Scratch's use of the clouds in his paintover image. Then the image has a reference to 'you' (via the MetaCortechs building), 'him', and 'her' (via the clouds). Why are the Nekodas communicating via weblog rather than by email? Because they are in different cities, and don't want to be found. Dina seems to be in Chicago based on the two pictures she posted in Ethan's weblog ... much as we believe sheismissing to be based on evidence from the mlo DexTop. Ethan seems to be getting around from city to city, like someone on the run.

My speculation is getting less coherent. I think we're pushing at the edge of the information we have. One more thought: The name paintover and the potential translation of nekoda as painted ones ... there's got to be something to that.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 3:57 pm
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enaxor
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 		Spec: Ethan is Ceasar and Avery
I like the spec that Avery is Ceasar, but I'm also thinking that the Avery's *are* Ethan and Dina. That would explain his interest in Metacortechs and his anger at Scratch for risking their exposure. And yes, I know they're supposed to be ex-husband and wife, but maybe they reconciled while on the run. Just some ramblings.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 6:14 pm
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xnbomb
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 		Re: Spec: Ethan is Ceasar and Avery
enaxor wrote:
I like the spec that Avery is Ceasar, but I'm also thinking that the Avery's *are* Ethan and Dina. That would explain his interest in Metacortechs and his anger at Scratch for risking their exposure. And yes, I know they're supposed to be ex-husband and wife, but maybe they reconciled while on the run. Just some ramblings.

The difficulty is in Scratch's use of 'you, him, and HER'. That's got to be three people ... whether it is Caesar=Avery=you or Avery=him, we need another male person to full in Scratch's trio. One possibility that comes to mind is suggested by Beth's email from a little while back:
Quote:
I'm terribly concerned about a good friend from my past. He seems to be missing and though I've not spoken to him in years, I've tried to reach him with absolutely no success. If one didn't know better, it would almost be as if he never existed. What would make a person go into hiding like that? And with his ex-wife? They were on good terms for the sake of their son, but it was just for his sake.

How about the son? If Avery and ex-wife have dropped off the face of the earth, presumably their son would be trying to find them. Consider Scratch's statement in bigmclargehuge2.mic:
Quote:
why don't you give us all a little lowdown, a bit of the old family tree

It's hard to be sure that Scratch means that literally, but he just might. I think he's saying that he's figured out who Caesar is, as well as who heismissing and sheismissing are, and perhaps that all three are related. Maybe:

you=Avery's son=Caesar
him=Avery=heismissing=Ethan
HER=Avery's ex-wife=sheismissing=Dina

We don't know anything about Avery's son ... but who could be more interested in finding the missing couple?

PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 7:09 pm
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Omnie
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 		Ooohh! xnbomb, that was brilliant! I think you're right. I've been trying to place Scratch's "orphan punk" comment ever since I read it. Of course! He's the son of Avery and his ex. I'm not convinced about the Dina/Ethan connection, but...that just makes so much sense! Family tree, orphan punk, and Caesar's hidden "agenda"...and that's why he's hosting the -ismissing pics. Yes!

Heh, sorry, I just got very excited...

Ok, to add to that... could Caesar = Avery Jr. be working at Metacortex? Others have speculated that he is, due to some comments and his worry about the hackers leaving files on metacortechs.com... so wouldn't it make sense that the CEO would get his son a job at his company? And then the son would stay on, moving up through the ranks or just until he found something better. In the case of Caesar, maybe staying on to collect evidence or have access to certain files... This is making more and more sense. So Beth must know Caesar in real life. Interesting, I wonder when they'll think of comparing notes.

[Edit] Hmm!!! Ok, Ethan said that someone named Todd Rogan came up to him a while ago, sounding like he knew him. Ethan had never seen him before, and Todd was apparently quite upset about this.

What if Todd=Caesar? Thinking that he'd seen his dad and then not having his dad recognize him would be quite upsetting...

So...warning, rampant speculation:
Ethan and Dina are Avery and his ex-wife, but they don't know it. They've either been brainwashed (Wongmo and Leiphe, anyone?) or have had their memories erased or something... they knew too much. So now they're living innocent lives...hmm, I haven't combed thru the blogs looking for hints yet, but I will...
Oh, and Scratch said something about "them" having the ability to make you disappear. Oh, this is fun....I'm either hallucinating or this is all starting to fit together. Or both. Very Happy

PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 7:42 pm
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Rasputin42x69
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Quote:
Hmm!!! Ok, Ethan said that someone named Todd Rogan came up to him a while ago, sounding like he knew him. Ethan had never seen him before, and Todd was apparently quite upset about this.

What if Todd=Caesar? Thinking that he'd seen his dad and then not having his dad recognize him would be quite upsetting...


Hmm, Todd Rogan didn't show up in the Metacortex directory, so I don't think it's him. The other points make much sense, tho.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 10:19 pm
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