page 117
I keep using the chatbot. For work it's genuinely useful. For the book I tried something different. Instead of asking what it knows, I asked it to help me think.
I typed in page 31 and page 117, the duplicated pages, and the memo, and asked: if you were a 1960s cryptographer (think one-time pads) and needed to hide that two tables were related, what would you do?
It said (summarizing): a duplicated page in Volume I could be a deliberate marker. Anyone holding both volumes would know where to start. Page 117 minus page 31 is 86. "An offset of 86 might indicate a starting position in the second volume."
I know. I know. It's the toy telling me what I want to hear. Page 117 is a printing error. 86 is just a number.
But it's also exactly the kind of thing a person would do. Brenneke said "the numbers weren't random enough." The pencil note said "Volume II has the order."
The order. A starting position.
It's almost 1am. I'm not sleepy at all.