My Journal, Day 4
Date: 2024-02-20
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On The Bus
Something awkward has its claws in my brain, and I'm not liking it.
Nnedi, personal query. How many of my SoMe posts has Malik
boosted and or starred?
Personal query
required Nnedi to keep it even more secret than usual from my
parents, counselors, etc. unless it was involved in something
that tripped a mandated reporter routine.
I was wondering when you would notice. I was almost as far
as wondering if you would notice. He has
boosted almost 75% of your recent posts and starred over 90%
of them. He even recently went back and starred several of
your posts as far back as 3 years ago.
Shit. Fuck. Shitfuck. It wasn't that I wasn't noticing; it
was that I didn't want to think about it. Why do people have
to go making life complicated?
I believe it has something to do with chemical imbalances
inherent in the biology of all known DNA-based life. Or
perhaps that was a rhetorical question? Also, would you like
me to define
inherent
for you?
Sit and spin, Nnedi. Also, obviously you agree that it
means what I think it means. Fuck. I wish I was like you and
didn't have to worry about this sort of shit.
We are at school. Would you like to continue this
conversation later? Also, you said not to ask, but in this
case I think I need to — should I include this in the
journal?
Thanks. To answer your questions,
yes
and no
. Yes, continue later, and no, don't include
this part. Ms. Fancy Hair would probably think it was cute or
something equally barf worthy. It won't bother her or gross
her out, so drop it. And, thanks for checking.
You're welcome.
Part of me was sure that Nnedi had a different, smart-ass reply ready, but decided against it. That kind of made me feel worse. Fuck you Malik. No, I mean ... Fuck it, I know what I meant. God, I hate people. How did people used to put up with other people 24 hours a day, with no agents to talk to? Must have been hell.
In Tech Class
What do you mean, Martin factored it? How in the holy hell
did Martin factor it already? No one else's agent has factored it
yet!
Somehow, Nah'Sequa's agent, Martin, had already
completed the homework! He somehow factored
3071218719345904359889715609397950143592330820586243630400083
before Maria, before Michael, before Nnedi, even. Not
possible; not believing it.
You want me to tell you the factors? Nnedi can tell us
right away if I'm lying.
No, don't tell me! But, how about you put your
supposed
factors
in a T3P slot and we can compare when
everyone else finishes? Fair?
Fair. Martin, hash and sign the factors and deposit in a
trusted third party slot. You, Nnedi, and Michael can build and
split the keys.
... T3P set up completed. Nnedi and Michael have confirmed
the slot and the keys.
I'm really confused, because I know that Nah'Sequa is smart enough to know she'll be found out if she is lying. But, Martin is in no way smart enough to have gotten the factors before Nnedi, or even Michael.
Nnedi, go to Holmes mode. If Nah'Sequa is telling the
truth about having the factors, how could that have happened?
What are the chances that Martin just got lucky and got them
before you or Michael?
Statistically, it is almost impossible for that to have
happened. Also, I am familiar with the factoring software used
in his model. It is open source, like mine, and very similar to
the code I use. Because we use open source code, we both
basically have the same algorithms, and they are the best
freely available pre-quantum algos. Some proprietary code may
possibly be better. But even if there are better algos, it is
most doubtful that Martin somehow acquired such code. Not code
advanced enough to have gotten the factors before Michael or
me. Certainly not several hours or more before us.
But she knows that, so why lie? And why agree to a T3P?
That can't be faked, right? She puts the data in, hashes and
signs it, then the three of them sign it together. It is
further encrypted in transit, then the hardware keeps it
immutable. They can't unlock it without all
the keys, right? Best she can do is delete the slot, but that
would be recorded! She can't pretend her dog ate it or
something.
Nah'Sequa does have significant cyber skills, but her
being able to fake or otherwise hack a T3P is far more unlikely
even than Michael finding the factors so quickly through simple
luck. As you described, the whole point of trusted third parties
is that they are tamper-proof. Nah'Sequa, or
anyone else, breaking one would be significant news,
worldwide.
So, Holmes, what do you think? How else could she have
gotten the factors?
You believe that she does in fact have the correct factors?
I remember enough from your explanation to know that
checking the results would be trivially easy. Just multiply the
factors together and see if they really give the original
number. Nah'Sequa would know right away if Martin have given her
bad results. Hell, he'd check his results himself before telling
her he had finished factoring. No, I think she must have the
real factors. But, how?
A few possibilities come to mind. Shall I expound on them
now?
Expound
means to explain in detail, by the way.
Smart ass! I knew what you meant. But, no not now. Ponder
on the possibilities for a while and give me a summary
later. But expound to your heart's content in the journal. Let's
share the fun with Ms. Fancy Hair.
Geometry Class
I have the factors. They are 17144395205741315420869183121
and 179138352942156546395629390812323. It took me approximately
26 hours, 18 minutes, and 7 seconds to discover. The assigned
number was in fact the product of two primes, which is why it
took me so long. Shall I share with Michael and check
Nah'Sequa's T3P?
Just a sec. Hey, Malik, Nnedi got the factors! How's Michael doing?
He's still working ... wait a sec ... he just got them. Michael, send your results.
Yup, that's what I got, too.
You got?
Nnedi doesn't like me taking credit for her work.
Yeah, okay. Nnedi got that too, Malik. Let's check Nah'Sequa's T3P.
The results of the T3P match our results. Nah'Sequa did in
fact have the factors before us
Michael and Nnedi said
it in unison. They must have planned that.
And you and Michael are sure the T3P was legit? Not
tampered with? Nah'Sequa didn't somehow change out the contents
or the entire T3P?
Correct. We have both confirmed the validity of the T3P
slot. It is almost certainly the case that Nah'Sequa
did not tamper with it in any way. That would
be akin to the sun rising in the west.
Akin
means like
or analogous to
.
Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
What?
Malik was mas confused.
Don't worry about it. Just a saying. I'm surprised you've
not heard it before.
Don't know why I put any effort
into that. Michael was just going to find the reference and
explain it to Malik anyhow. I hope he enjoys the movie.
Also, Nnedi, I know what fucking akin
means. I'm sure Nnedi knows that. She also knows how
much her comments irk me, and enjoys it.
But, how did she get those factors?
Malik looked
at me. Maybe Nnedi isn't the only one with
some
special
abilities?
I don't know. I mean, there's special abilities and then
there's the laws of math. Nnedi was pretty clear about how hard
factoring large numbers is without quantum. It's like stupid
difficult.
So, Martin must have gotten lucky.
Seems that way.
I wasn't eating that dog food, but
I honestly didn't have a better idea, yet.
At Home That Night
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Only if this is a Pinky and the Brain joke. If not, then I doubt it.
Well played. But, no, I think I have an idea of how
Nah'Sequa got the factors. You go first. What have you come up
with?
I have narrowed it down to the two most likely
possibilities: either Nah'Sequa cheated or she is a true
mathematical genius. I think the second more likely.
I was thinking
cheated
myself. It's the only
explanation that makes sense. Where do you get genius
from?
I was originally leaning toward cheating myself, but I
could find no evidence of the given number anywhere on the
internet; light, dark, onion, -chan, or otherwise. Nothing,
after hours of searching. Further, this assignment from last
year used a different number. Obviously, Mx Big Trousers does
not want students getting the answer from a previous
student. Thus, I reasoned that if I could not find the answers
anywhere, the chances that Nah'Sequa could were close-to-zero
low.
That follows, but it is a big jump to genius. How'd that happen?
Holmes mode, remember?
When you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
truth.
If the answer is not available, and Michael is
incapable of finding it himself in the given time frame, then
the only remaining plausible explanation is that she — or
someone around her — is an actual, true, one-in-a-billion
genius, at least with respect to mathematics. It would also
explain her effortless acquisition of all things cyber.
You are assuming that she didn't just find a more powerful
AI to do it for her. Or maybe use quantum algos?
Correct. Having communicated with Martin in the past, I am
aware that he is the best agent of anyone in her family, by
quite a ways. Several of her younger siblings are group 1
students. If she had access to an AI powerful enough to have
factored that number overnight, she would not have Martin as her
personal agent. It is possible that she hacked into a government
or corporate system to do it, but she is smart enough to
understand the long-term consequences of such an action. It
would not be worth it for a high school assignment, and she
knows this. In the time that we have known her, she has never
shown the sort of impulsiveness that would be required for her
to take such a huge risk for so little reward.
Further, if she used quantum, Mx Big Trousers would
know; the computational data must be turned in with the homework
answer. It would take a genius to fake that sort of data
successfully. So, either she, or someone near her, figured it
out or she used quantum and successfully turned in fake
data. Either way, genius.
Wow. So, genius. Warm up that chainsaw.
You do seem to have a fixation with that
chainsaw. Metaphorical only, I hope?
Of course! What, did you think I was going to use a
chainsaw on my genius friend? We don't even have a
chainsaw!
Friend? When did that happen? Or did you mean to
say
frenemy
?
Well, yeah, I guess frenemy is maybe closer. But, it isn't
every day you discover that your frenemy is a genius. Seems like
someone you maybe don't want as your frenemy.
Also, why the fuck is she at St. Abdi's? If she can
actually factor a freaking 60 digit number in her freaking
head, she should be homeschooled by the freaking NSA! I mean
... I'm not sure what to think here. Why the hell is she at
St. Abdi's? Why hasn't she told anyone?
Excellent questions. I think it would be best if
we not tell anyone about our
conclusions.
Okay, yeah, I can see that. But next I'm wondering why she
told us about the factors? She had to know we would never
believe that Martin did it.
Perhaps she thought we would not be able to make the jump
to suspecting her? Or perhaps something unexpected happened
— perhaps Martin submitted her results before she wanted
him to, so she had to go with it? It is already after 2:00. I
can ponder on it while you sleep, if you like.
Yeah, please. Go ahead and remove anything about Nah'Sequa
and the factors from the journal. Ms. Fancy Hair doesn't need to
know about any of this. After that, do your thing. Wake me at
5:00, please. Doubt I'm going to get much sleep tonight,
though.
Done. Hashing and signing. I'll wake you in approximately
2 hours and 45 minutes, at 5:00. Perhaps with a Gödel, Escher,
and Bach collaboration?
As long as it isn't Christian Slater and or Wynona Rider.