With the other books we've had similar discussions about secrets and their place, so I thought it was interesting that Cryptonomicon treats these encrypted messages as secrets that have a set lifespan. On page 55, Randy asks "How long do you want these messages to remain secret?" ... "Five years? Ten years? Twenty-Five years?" It's interesting to see a character who recognize the difficulty of keeping secrets and the inevitability of secrets emerging into the open i.e. it's just a matter of time.
In 10th grade, my US history teacher told us that the secret files on JFK's death would be revealed in 2050. My boyfriend says that's the ramblings of a conspiracy theorist, but I found it interesting. Apparently, if this is true, which it might not be, there are details on the murder that would really upset people who were alive at the time, so the time period is being waited out until the people who would remember it wouldn't be around. It's an interesting way of figuring out how long to keep a secret.
Wow, that's really interesting. While that is one way to figure out when to unveil a secret, that's also so frustrating! Because people who were alive at the time would also seem to be the most interested, so the people that actually find out the juiciest information wouldn't even appreciate it as much.
True. This kind of reminds me of how Deep Throat's identity was revealed earlier this year. I knew the context of this man because I had read All the President's Men, but I feel like there are many around who know nothing about it and therefore had no idea what anyone was talking about.
Is it bad that I'm so historically unaware of the 70's that I thought there was a connection between Deep Throat the informer and Deep Throat the porno? Luckily for me, I have since read the articles on the former and watched the creepy-as-hell documentary on the latter. But as of about last year...not so much.