This is something I got off the Idea Futures computers list. (The Fact claim is that a 512 bit number will be factored by '97) I don't know if the following address has been posted here before. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 17 Oct 95 13:45:40 PDT From: Robin Hanson <hanson@hss.caltech.edu> To: if-comp@merak.com Subject: if-comp: Project to make Fact true A team at Bellcore seems to be planning to try and make the claim Fact true. See this web page, and the forward in particular: http://kayak.npac.syr.edu:2008/ They plan to use the web to allow lots of machines to easily participate. They will start with a 130-digit number and work their way up to the 155-digit number required to satisfy the claim. Will they succeed by the end of '97? A crypto expert friend of mine claims their chances are 90%. I have bet accordingly. Robin Hanson hanson@hss.caltech.edu http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~hanson/ 818-683-9153 2433 Oswego St., Pasadena, CA 91107 FAX: 818-405-9841 818-395-4289 Div. Hum. & Soc. Sci. 228-77 Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125