CHAPTER 44
— IF YOU'VE HEARD HORROR STORIES ABOUT DEEP Web , people were probably actually talking about the Darknet. Originally, the two concepts were synonymous, the name "Darknet" came to designate more sites kept secret on purpose, as they contain illegal or at least extremely objectionable material. It is usually accessed via Tor.
— Tor?
— The Onion Router, or "the onion router" , a browser whose name comes from the fact that it works with several layers of redirection, in addition to heavy encryption, to throw off anyone who tries to track traffic on the Darknet.
— Tor addresses are always in the form of an apparently random string of characters followed by the ".onion" extension.
— So it's impossible to access a website without having received its address beforehand — added Yuliya — you can't search or guess the name of a website, for example.
Igor nodded.
— Well, the address obtained by applying a code to a 1992 book, which disappeared as soon as it was read, led precisely to a sequence of characters with ".onion" at the end. The next step was obvious:
— Put that on Tor and see where it ended up — Greg said.
— However, this is where the certainties in our history end, as to what was actually passed on to the chosen ones. As stated in the latest 3301 messages, they were looking for only the best. Therefore, after a certain number of hits, the Darknet site simply went down and never came back. Some people who claim to have arrived on time claim to have received an email asking them to develop an encryption program with certain characteristics, probably as a final test, what happened after that is a complete mystery, as the few that passed it never more news.
Everyone looked at Yuliya.
— Shortly afterwards, at the end of January 2012, a final message from the 3301 was posted on Reddit, warning that they had found the people they were looking for, and saying that there would be future opportunities.
Everyone looked at each other, intrigued, thirsty for an answer to the riddle, but with no way to find it.
— The months passed, and on January 5, 2013, exactly one year after the fateful summons, another very similar one appeared, also on 4chan. with. The nerds went into an uproar:
— The Cicada was back.
— Another "treasure hunt" followed, much more complicated than the first. It involved a book by the occultist Aleister Crowley, a — boot cd — of Cicada's own operating system, a song , very cool, by the way, a twitter that posted mysterious numbers, a cabalistic code of runes, an exaggerated amount of websites from the Darknet, messages composed exclusively of spaces and tabs that had to be converted into binary, more messages on posts in various places in the world such as Japan, Russia, Texas, among others, etc. Until you get to the final test. Much more sinister than the first time.
— A kind of modus operandi...
— In theory, yes — said Yuliya, — in practice, let's say they've reached a new level.
Igor nodded.
— This time, the final test was very different from the first, and maybe it gives clues about the ideas that guide the 3301. It was a questionnaire dealing with highly philosophical topics, with questions of — true or false — like "there is no truth", — observation changes the thing being observed — and — I am the voice inside my head"...
— And other essays: "the mathematical operation known as addition is modeled on what?" and "point out similarities between the concept of reality and the Facebook news feed".
— Exactly! Right after that, there was supposedly another programming test, again, what came after that is unknown as the people who passed all the tests disappeared completely from the internet.
Everyone looked at Yuliya who smiled back at them.
— As expected, on January 5, 2014, Cicada returned to active duty. In fact, they waited so long for this that trolls rained down, posting fake messages, which were soon disregarded for not having the 3301's digital signature, among other features. They were almost giving up when, around 11 pm, the twitter used by the mysterious group in the previous challenge, posted a new invitation , similar to the previous ones, but with a more mystical tone:
"Hi. Epiphany is near you.
Your pilgrimage has begun.
Lighting is waiting.
Good luck.
3301"
— As this year's "gymkhana" progressed, the mystical theme has been increasingly present. Following the trend, this year's challenge is even more complicated than the previous year's, and despite there being a lot more people committed to solving it, until the date of this publication, people were completely stuck for two weeks. It started with a book code, this time based on a book by Ralph Waldo Emerson, about self— sufficiency and transcendence, which led to the following rather strange image:
— This is a collage of three paintings by the English artist and poet William Blake, circa 1795.
— Our apocalyptic prophet.
Igor and Yuliya nodded.
— Nebuchadnezzar , Newton and The Ancient of Days , but with two very significant modifications — said Yuliya showing the places — a cicada, the same that appeared several times in the other challenges, very dark and almost invisible in the black part of the underside, and something written on the line where the finger is pointing right in the middle of the image.
— Until today, no one has been able to decipher what is written there, because it is something tiny, distorted by the compression of the image, and cut the line.
— Much has been speculated about the meaning of the image. They pointed out similarities between it and the Unicursal Hexagram , symbol of Thelema , Aleister Crowley's magical tradition, thus connecting with the 2013 challenge, others saw the symbol of Freemasonry , which is reinforced by the use of compasses, suggesting that this order is behind the 3301. In the source code of the page where the image was found, there was the sentence:
"For everything that lives is sacred"
— Emphasizing even more the mysticism of the figure.
— Not quite understanding what the image meant, people followed the trail of steganography, which again through various sites on the Darknet, in addition to cryptographic puzzles, kabbalistic runes, and several pages that showed codes growing little by little and disappearing soon after it was completed, it eventually revealed some pages of a strange book, entitled Liber Primus is written in runes. Translated, the book, addressing the reader as a — pilgrim— , speaks of a — journey to the end of all things— , through which you will find an end to suffering, innocence, illusions, certainties, reality, and to the end of itself. — You are a being unto yourself,— says the book:
"You are a law unto yourself. Every intelligence is sacred. For everything that lives is sacred."
— It also says that prime numbers (essential for encryption) are sacred, and everything must be encrypted. The last page revealed so far closes with a — magic square…—
— Full of numbers whose sum of all rows, columns and diagonals is 1033.
— 3301 in reverse.
— Of course, whose meaning hasn't been discovered until now either. And it is right here that what they have been able to unravel so far ends.
— What conclusions can we draw from this?
— As I said, the hypothesis of being just some unemployed person was discarded due to the resources and international action that this person would need to have. If it's really just "just for fun", I take my hat off and bow before such dedication, however, it's very hard to believe, as is the idea that it's some ARG.
— ARG? — Asked Greg this time.
— Alternate Reality Game , a type of campaign that uses mysteries in various media to promote something, like Halo's I Love Bees and LOST's Lost Experience , as they were already in their third year and it didn't advertise anything so far.
— So far...
Igor nodded.
— What's left for us then?
— Some say this is a recruitment strategy by some big government agency like the NSA. This type of institution has used strange recruiting tactics before, but it is common for them to make it clear who they are at some point.
— The philosophical and occult aspect also testifies against this hypothesis. Still, it cannot be definitively ruled out.
— For similar reasons, another unlikely alternative, although popular, is that 3301 is looking for people to work with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin , perhaps for some big bank. There is also the interpretation that the Cicada 3301 is linked to some kind of secret society, with obscure goals yet to be determined. Which, exactly, is pure speculation, feel free to point out Freemasons, Illuminati, Templars, Abstergo, aliens, or whoever else you want to add to this long list.
— The mysticism and references to Aleister Crowley that have emerged suggest some kind of cult, sect or whatever.
— There were some alleged leaks, much questioned as to their veracity, after all, on the internet anyone can say anything, which can clarify a lot if they are true. One of them, the email allegedly received by those who completed the 2012 challenge, states that 3301 is a think tank dedicated to promoting freedom of information and individual privacy. A mysterious woman, known only by the nickname Wind , claims to be a former member of the organization behind 3301, and says she was recruited for her knowledge of psychology, as she doesn't understand much about computers, and that the group operates in several different areas., the 3301 being simply the crypto — split— or something.
— That would explain the invitation to Yuliya.
— It's a hypothesis.
She nodded.
— Finally, an anonymous text from an alleged dissident of the organization, says that it resembles a religion — of the left hand of God — , i.e. Satanist, which is a secret society founded by influential people who — were dissatisfied with the direction of the world — , which works in a highly compartmentalized cell structure.
— What would...
— Division of information to prevent leaks, acting in the most diverse areas, and which is guided by various philosophies such as the idea of — global brain — , absolute freedom of the individual and information, the non — existence of an absolute morality or even a single reality indisputable, among others.
— Again, there's a good chance it's just a troll, but if it's true, it certainly seems consistent with the materials 3301 has presented so far.
— On January 29, after two weeks without news, the last site found so far, which was offline, returned to activity with a zipped file, in text format, containing hexadecimal code, as 3301 usually does, from which they could be extracted, after digging a little into your code, the following images:
— Soon they translated the pages, leading to a story that I particularly found quite interesting:
a koan
A man decided to go to study with a master. He went to this master's door.
— Who are you, who intends to study here? — asked the master. The student told the master his name.
— That's not who you are, just what you're called. Who are you, who intends to study here?
he asked again. The man thought for a moment, then replied:
— I am a teacher.
— That's what you do, not who you are, — replied the master.
— Who are you, who intends to study here?
Confused, the man thought some more. Finally, he replied, — I am a human being.
— That's just your kind, not who you are. Who are you, who intends to study here? — asked the master again.
After a moment of reflection, the teacher replied:
— I am a consciousness inhabiting an arbitrary body.
— This is merely WHAT you are, not WHO you are. Who are you, who intends to study here? — The man was getting angry.
— I'm...— he started to say, but couldn't think of anything else to say, so he dispersed. After a long pause, the master replied:
— Then you are welcome to studies...
— After the image of the cicada, an instruction:
— Do four pointless things each day.
— Using steganography on the images, they extracted the message:
— To believe in the truth is to destroy the possibilities—
— And an address, which contained a bunch of binary information and the following image, whose dark space was treated right after, to show other images imperceptible to the naked eye next to it:
— The man hiding in the corner is Grigori Rasputin . The meaning of this, and of the numbers, has yet to be discovered. At the same time, the binary information was decoded, which corresponded to a piece of classical music and two images:
— The equation is part of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem , the eye is a painting by MC Escher , and the music is an excerpt from JS Bach's Trio Sonata in G Major. It is not difficult to deduce that this connects with a book called Gödel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter, which was the key to a book code contained also in the binary data. The address obtained from this clue led to four more pages of the "book" that was being released little by little by Cicada:
— In the translation it says:
The loss of divinity: Circumference practices three behaviors that cause the loss of divinity.
Consumption: We consume too much because we believe in the following two errors within the decoy:
1. We don't have enough, or there isn't enough,
2. We have what we have now by luck, and we won't be strong enough later to get what we need.
Most things are not worthy of consumption.
Preservation: We preserve things because we believe we are weak. If we lose them, we won't be strong enough to win them again. This is the decoy.
Most things are not worthy of preservation.
Adherence: We follow dogma so we can belong and be right. Or, we follow reason so that we can belong to the group and be right.
There's nothing to be right about. Belonging to the group is death.
It is the behaviors of consumption, preservation and adherence that make us lose our primality and, therefore, our divinity.
Some wisdom: Gather great riches. Never get attached to what you own. Be prepared to destroy everything you own.
One instruction: Program your mind. Program reality.
— Hidden in the images was a set of instructions for what appears to be a final test, similar to previous years, which involved creating — magic squares — , whose sum of all rows or columns is the same, I think you can guess which one It's the number, isn't it?
— 3301.
Igor winked at Greg.
— As well as the creation of an online service on the Darknet that would allow communication. When providing the requested information, the user was directed to a page with a thank you, and the following images:
Translation:
A koan: During a lesson, the master explained the self:
— The self is the voice of the circumference, — he said.
When asked by a student what this meant, the master said:
— It's a voice inside your head.—
— I don't have a voice inside my head, — thought the student, and he raised his hand to speak to the master.
The master interrupted the student and said:
— The voice that just said you don't have a voice in your head, that's me.— And the students were enlightened.
— An instruction:
— Question all things, Discover the truth within you, Follow your truth, Don't impose anything on others.
Know this: (sequence of numbers)
— And for now, that's all. Everything suggests that the final stage led to a direct contact with the 3301, as in previous years, in any case, if anyone managed to make it to this stage, no one has reported so far. There are still a lot of unexplained mysteries and clues in that year's scavenger hunt, but it doesn't look like we're going to have answers to these things anytime soon.
— These last steps have made the philosophical and ideological side of the organization very clear. Liber Primus, the name given to the book that emerged during this challenge, has a very mystical content, referring both to Zen Buddhism and the idea of questioning everything and seeking its own truth.