Steve Thompson

Steve Thompson steve49152 at yahoo.ca
Tue Dec 14 17:43:26 PST 2004


Alright.  Time for a little 'fun'.

 --- "R.W. (Bob) Erickson" <roberte at ripnet.com> wrote: 
> Tyler Durden wrote:
> 
> >
> > Something occurred to me...it probably occurred to others already but 
> > I am a stoopid Cypherpunk, don't forget.

I like the nomenclature of AI: it makes for an interesting tool in the
analysis of day-to-day interpersonal relations.  Here, for instance, I am
in the habit of making a mental note of the above as a frame axiom, one
which is intended to influence the state of the fluents that might be said
to accompany this message, or which are intended to be assumed by it.

So, Mr. Erickson here wishes to assert and emphasise that he is a "stupid
cypherpunk", a proposition that may or may not conflict with extant
fluents held by readers of Cypherpunks.  Or, put another way, it might
conflict (or be designed to conflict) with frame axioms that Mr. Erickson
knows or suspects to be held by his audience.  Without knowing the
internal mental state of Cypherpunks' subscription base, and without
knowing the frame within which Mr. Erickson is operatiing (either his
'global' frame, or the 'local' frame of convenience that he may have
adopted), it is nearly impossible to infer what he or she is intending by
writing a statement like "I am a stoopid Cypherpunk" when its banality
might suggest to some that it is blatantly insincere.

There's really nowhere to take this digression, what with the limited
information that is available in context, and so we can only speculate as
to what relation Mr. Erickson's possible stoopidity has to the topic at
hand, which is (if we are to take the message at face value), that he is
concerned with a complaint about a bad eBay sale, which is the
responsibility of someone using the name "Steve Thompson", and which was
made to Cypherpunks (a known spook-haven[1]), via an anonymous message
that appears to have been sent through a cypherpunks remailer.

> > Anyone think it a TINY bit odd that someone with a fairly mundane 
> > complaint about bad  computer gear would know to come in on an 
> > anonymous remailer?

Yes, it is quite odd.

> > My first thought was that they had gotten burned by a Steve Thompson 
> > (maybe the same, maybe not) did a google search and came across 
> > Cypherpunks and then tossed in a couple of stinky posts.

That condition may satisfy the principle of least hypothesis, which has
much to recommend it, but is it really the likely scenario?

> > But it seems a little farfetched to me that such a person would also 
> > have bothered (by accident) reading about the anonymous remailers and 
> > then use one.

Without a detailed psychological workup on the person who sent the
message, the question is largely indeterminate.  Perhaps the person making
the complaint was coincidentally familiar with anonymous remailers prior
to their interaction with eBay.

> > So...the complainer must have already been aware of remailers and Mr 
> > Thompson's contribution to Cypherpunks.

I am not sure whether that conclusion is supported by the data available
at this time.

> > Kind of interesting.

To someone who is genuinely 'stoopid', perhaps.

> > -TD
> 
> Somebody has been experimenting  with reputation cracking

Did you just happen to notice?

I have informally noted a number of messages in which the authors purport
to present information that seeks to damage or modify another's
reputation, using a variety of subtle language- and psychology-oriented
special effects.  Whether one puts stock in the veracity of each instance
is probably a matter of personal preference; expediency and convenience in
such a busy environment dictates that for practical reasons one simply
cannot chase down every half-assed assertion merely to verify its
accuracy.

In the print and televised media, the flood of information shovelled at
the reader (or watcher) is such that distortions, omissions, and outright
falsehoods are expected to lodge in the public mind as they accompany a
wealth of otherwise useful information that is of some accuracy.  The
repetition of like falsehoods is carried out over time with the
expectation that it will be reinforced.

A favoirite example of mine is to be found in one of the two local
entertainment weeklies.  Recently it was asserted that `reincarnation is
the new black' in reference to the intended memetic propogation of the
associated frame axioms, and their intended effect on the readers' fluents
vulnerable to modification by the memes in question.  My tentative
analysis of the PR intent prompted me to stop reading the weekly in
question as I have no interest in wasting my time with such unimportant
drivel.  In my case, I feel there are much better things to spend time on
-- as interesting as watching the PR spin might be as viewed from a
cultural-anthropological perspective.


Regards,

Steve
 


[1] Choate, et al.


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