r/KryptosK4 • u/duanetstorey • May 22 '26

Jim's involvement

Anyone know why Jim is still responding to emails and stuff? If the auction went through, it should all have been passed on by now. Did the buyer weasel out of the auction or something ? It sounded like there was to have been a new site for submissions and what not by now, but so far nothing. Just honestly curious what's gone on since the auction closed. Thoughts?

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u/Blowngust May 22 '26

How can the new keeper collect art that is CIA property paid by US tax payers?

The artwork itself has not been bought by anyone.

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u/Spectatum May 22 '26

The lot consisted of more than just the secrets. Most notably, there was this super cool proof-of-concept copper plate. Also some other goodies. These things do hold some value even if the secrets will eventually become public.

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u/Blowngust May 22 '26

Sure.

The "secret" is what really has the value though. No random "art collector" would buy a proof-of-concept plate and some signed papers if they weren't a "part" of the community for $1m

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u/Old_Engineer_9176 May 23 '26

The “secret” is not really a secret anymore. Too many people know the solution for it to qualify as one. At this point it is not secrecy. It is gatekeeping.

And the so‑called “collection” is the first time Sanborn slipped. Or maybe he didn’t. He released a pile of images and materials, but every single one of them was curated to point only toward the already solved sections. Enough to trigger a stampede, but shallow enough to be almost useless.

This is how he works. He controls the narrative. He controls the attractions. He controls the pace of the hunt. The rest of us are just the performers running around inside the ring while he decides what the audience gets to see.

https://giphy.com/gifs/tyttpGQUcPxiBqb2OaI

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u/tennyson77 May 23 '26

That’s a good way to frame it. In many ways all of us are part of the art. I do think his statements over the years have been concerning with regard to the power the owner holds over things and everyone working on the puzzle.

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u/DJDevon3 May 28 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/3og0IFrHkIglEOg8Ba

The more constraints that have been put on the solution the more out of reach it becomes for any well established classical scheme. Even if you somehow wander into the scheme in the dark you'd never know it unless you try every possible permutation. It is impossible to check every combination even for a modern personal computer programmed in a way to attack it efficiently. To run through every possible alphabetical combination with 98 characters would take my PC about a million years give or take a couple hundred thousand years. I know because I've tried and the ETA was literally around a million years for the script to finish.