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Contest To Crack William Gibson Poem Agrippa

Posted by Unknown on from the brought-to-you-by-lisp dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A new cracking contest to cryptanalyse a William Gibson poem. The electronic poem ('Agrippa') was written back in 1992 and self-encrypts after being displayed once. The person who successfully cracks the encryption will win a copy of every published Gibson book." The poem/program binary was recovered in 2008, but it looks like no one has managed (bothered?) to crack the code.

10 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. And when they're done here by jxander · · Score: 5, Funny

    The next challenge is decrypting Finnegans Wake.

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    This signature is false.
    1. Re:And when they're done here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I did that once.

      I ended up with a Tale of Two Cities. Typo in the first sentence, "blurst" of times for some reason.

    2. Re:And when they're done here by Verdatum · · Score: 5, Funny

      You stupid monkey!!

  2. Losers will receive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    2 copies of every published Gibson book.

  3. "win a copy of every published Gibson book"?? by KrazyDave · · Score: 5, Funny

    There's your problem right there as to why no one has bothered. It's like that old joke - ".... second prize is two weeks in Cleveland, Ohio and the grand prize is one week in Cleveland, Ohio!"

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    www.chihuahuarescue.com- Help to end dog abuse, abandonment and cruelty
  4. I've cracked it by mmarlett · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine."

    1. Re:I've cracked it by JustOK · · Score: 5, Funny

      Be sure to salt your Crypto-routine

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      rewriting history since 2109
  5. So in other words... by TeknoHog · · Score: 5, Funny

    They want you to hack the Gibson.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  6. Re:Well , I looked at it twice... by polymeris · · Score: 3, Funny

    Weird. From here I couldn't even see the decrypted version once. Just see undecyphrable verses.

  7. I found the problem by Phoenixlol · · Score: 3, Funny

    Perhaps "no one has managed (bothered?) to crack the code" because "The person who successfully cracks the encryption will win a copy of every published Gibson book." Just speculation, being unfamiliar with his work.