CARET/Drones Debunked? – A “viral” fantasy, page 7

Originally posted by denythestatusquo
TheOP seems to engage in the activity for which person decries in this situation if you ask me?

by Schuyler I'm not positive I understand this…

Oh, I understand it alright: denyTSQ is trying to say he/she thinks that since I am pontificating so much on the premise of the OP that I am “meme”-ing, perhaps Isaac himself!

I’m flattered, naturally, but, nah – ‘taint so. I don’t blame deny nor anyone else for that matter for flinging a few darts around though. At this stage of the game, frustration abounds, and the occasional finger-pointing is inevitable. I don’t mind as long as we don’t reduce ourselves here to the mudslinging “CGI/Not CGI” banter that seems to take over some of the other threads every few pages.

Schuyler is right, of course: we’re merely exploring a “Working Theory”. We indeed wish to know (if they are not real – a significant qualifier) what is “going on here”. This thread is just one possible alternative and is grounded in a fundamental idea that *cringe* viral “meme” pre-conceived motivators may be at work.

It’s merely a presupposition of sorts; we’re postulating that, if this is not real (i.e., a “hoax”), the perpetrator(s) have an ulterior motive. Part of this motivation may be to take advantage of the “group think” expressed in this forum (and similar lesser venues) to be ultimately utilized for an as-yet to be determined purpose.

by Schuyler
Several have suggested financial gain is an aspect of this. I do not disagree, but where is the financial gain?

Ah-ha! The suggestion that there be financial gain was only ONE potential result. As indicated previously, the financial gain may come later – much later (if at all) once the book, screenplay, video game scripting, or other media consumable has gone through the creative/generative/publishing rigmarole.

BUT, let’s consider some NON-monetary incentives: what if it IS only part of a hungry doctoral student’s work-in-progress? Sure – upon completion of ½ dozen years or so of graduate study, assuming successful completion. The candidate MAY realize an increase in financial gain via this ‘case study’ – but the immediate financial rewards are nil. Been ‘on campus’ lately? Well, I can tell you that friends ‘in the dorm’ who may be computer science majors, sociology majors, etc. may be “lending a hand” to kick this exercise off. And – what’s the hurry? Sure – we’re impatient; we want the dastardly deed-doers uncovered – and pronto! But perhaps they are no particular hurry whatsoever – next semester, or next year is fine. Heck, the dissertation committee hasn’t even been formed yet – could be 2 or 3 years!

Don’t like the crazy, lazy student idea? No problem. Try this one: A think tank. You know who I mean: The Rand Corporation, Center for Urban Policy Research, The CATO Institute, The Center for Democracy and Technology, the Geospatial Information and Technology Association - just to name a few are notorious for conducting “blind surveys” and similar research projects IN ADVANCE of any funding. Why? So they have something to sell later. So they gain the upper hand in populace-psyche. So they increase their viability quotient with the government institutions who are their main clients. For internal socio-absorption analyses, and many other reasons. Some of these are (rather obscure) not-for-profit organizations. I’m not saying by any stretch that this is what’s going on here – only that they are POSSIBLE non-financial reasons for doing so. Oh yes: these guys are in no particular hurry either. The impatience is ours alone – they may not be feeling any of it. In fact, to them, the longer this goes on WITHOUT a resolution, the better (and more) “data” they get. Nothing like a “new drone” to stoke the fire, eh?

by SchuylerThe characters are still throwing me. If the drones had appeared withoiut characters the analysis would at least be smoother. But the presence of characters has thrown us off onto wild tangents thet, for me, defy credibility.

Yup – I feel your pain buddy (in fact, since I know you’ve responded several times to my character analysis reports in the other threads, I REALLY know how you feel on this one). You may recall that in one or more of the other threads I posted some graphics/screen shots of software available that are easy font-generators. Playing with a freeware version of one for a bit I was able to create a few rudimentary ‘alien-looking’ characters in a few minutes. It’s not rocket science by any means, and I think if any of us put our mind to it, we could create a couple dozen such funny characters in a long day or so. Toss in a few pals with a little more CGI/PSe experience, maybe an artsy type to ‘clean the curves’ of your font a bit – I think a cool new font could be created and applied to the other graphics inside one weeks time - tops. Again – not saying this is what’s really happening – only that I think it’s feasible.

“But the presence of characters has thrown us off onto wild tangents that, for me, defy credibility.” Mr. Schuyler - I would submit that “throwing us off into wild tangents” is part of the plan! Such an adjunct doesn’t defy credibility. Imho it LENDS additional credibility. Remember that this MAY NOT be an exercise expedited to an end to satisfy us – the unwitting and hapless victims of a ruse. Rather, the entire ‘package’, including the funky characters (or perhaps especially the characters) is part of “the plan”.

Nevertheless, I agree completely with one other aspect of your sentiment: What do they mean? Although you know we spent an inordinate amount of time (and others continue to do so (often duplicating our early efforts) to match the font to other foreign languages, to ancient texts, to fictional characters, to runes and glyphs of all kinds. No match. I don’t think there is one. You’ll remember I consulted some of the top linguists on the planet on this – all came back negative.

Clearly – and I think several here have felt likewise – the characters must still “mean something”. OK – so they don’t belong to any sci-fi races, Asians, or lost civilizations of Earth. Let’s assume for a moment that someone HAS gone through the trouble to create the font characters. If it was me, when I was done, I wouldn’t just plaster them all over the drones and ‘documents’ haphazardly. The plan is too elegant for that shoddiness, the artwork and execution too precise, the science too well thought-out. No – the characters mean something all right. I think instead of linguists we may want to try cryptographers – such as Elonka and “Isaac” and their ilk as found in the OP.

A cryptographer may be able to help us discover the key – the hidden correlation of characters to a known font set (not necessarily English). If we can discover such a correlation we might be able to unlock the tools needed for a translation. Not sure what the script would ultimately tell us – but I’m betting it won’t be “Eat at Joe’s!”

Thank you all once again for your thoughtful commentary and insightful observations…