Falling into Place?

[mistermack]

There's secrets and secrets.

The Manhattan Project isn't all that great an example. Being that it's in most history textbooks.
Maybe that's where they went wrong?

[Seth]

There's secrets and secrets.

The Manhattan Project isn't all that great an example. Being that it's in most history textbooks.
Maybe that's where they went wrong?

One of the oldest adages I know of is "Two people can keep a secret, if one of them is dead."

[Galaxian]

Just about every conspiracy theory ever can be debunked by following the simple logic that they usually involve far, far too many people for them to be plausible. Each person added to the equation is a potential whistle-blower, informant or undercover investigator. I'm not even sure how you go about asking people to join your conspiracy, "Pssst! Yeah, you. We need a pilot to help take down The World Trade Centre and attack our own people. You want in?" There's no way you can know who you can safely ask and who is going to report you straight away.

So that's why the evil Manhattan Project with over 30,000 participants was never a secret!

I don't remember the Manhattan Project being a conspiracy.
FAIL.

You conflate "conspiracy" with "secrecy". Thousands involved, yet the sheeple were unaware. How?

[Animavore]

Just about every conspiracy theory ever can be debunked by following the simple logic that they usually involve far, far too many people for them to be plausible. Each person added to the equation is a potential whistle-blower, informant or undercover investigator. I'm not even sure how you go about asking people to join your conspiracy, "Pssst! Yeah, you. We need a pilot to help take down The World Trade Centre and attack our own people. You want in?" There's no way you can know who you can safely ask and who is going to report you straight away.

So that's why the evil Manhattan Project with over 30,000 participants was never a secret!

I don't remember the Manhattan Project being a conspiracy.
FAIL.

You conflate "conspiracy" with "secrecy". Thousands involved, yet the sheeple were unaware. How?

No I don't.

[mistermack]

You conflate "conspiracy" with "secrecy". Thousands involved, yet the sheeple were unaware. How?

You conflate what happens in wartime with keeping secrets in peacetime.
The penalties for leaking secrets in wartime are greater, and the press will also self-censor in wartime, to make sure that official secrets are not spread about. They would probably report anyone who was trying to sell the story in wartime, but do their best to protect their sources in peacetime.

[Blind groper]

Research done on conspiracies some years back showed that the more people in a conspiracy, the higher the chance of betrayal. (How unlikely!)

When the number of people reached 7, as an average, the chances of betrayal reached 50%. When there were ten or more people in the conspiracy, the odds for betrayal reached near enough to 100%.

[rainbow]

Research done on conspiracies some years back showed that the more people in a conspiracy, the higher the chance of betrayal. (How unlikely!)

When the number of people reached 7, as an average, the chances of betrayal reached 50%. When there were ten or more people in the conspiracy, the odds for betrayal reached near enough to 100%.

That is what they want you to believe.

[Sean Hayden]

-sigh, it's possible to manage conspiracies. Think about a conspiracy with an immune system.

Have I said too much?

[Ian]

It's easy to confuse a secret with a deception. Both may involve things you don't know about, but they're worlds apart. They're the difference between a truth and a lie.

Keeping secrets is not very hard at all. Keeping a deception under wraps is damn near impossible, especially when lots of people are involved in it.

[Sean Hayden]

It seems like the US has a difficult time keeping its secrets. Or is that what they want us to believe...

I wonder about the stats used here how many of the conspiracies were of the kind that come about to deal with an unplanned event, rather than a conspiracy that's been designed from the ground up? How much can the former tell us about the latter? How would a successful conspiracy even make into the statistics?

-oh no, I'm becoming...no, it all makes sense now