if-comp: Project to make Fact true (fwd)

[s1018954 at aix2.uottawa.ca]

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 at hss.caltech.edu>
To: if-comp at 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 at 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