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A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

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41–50 of 359 posts

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#41
post #34

Young men don't die for 'no reason'. It's odd that they couldn't find some cause of death, I assumed that in 2020 we'd be able to make a rough estimate. If there's no obvious foul play then statistically the obvious one would be suicide, but that should narrow only to a few specific things. How many ways are there for one to 'just die' while lying in a tent.

"Young men dying for no reason" is not totally uncommon. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocarditis#Epidemiology.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#42
post #36
post #35

I wonder how long it will be before someone truly cannot be anonymous in this country (or the world). Whenever I come across a book/movie about someone traveling to the future and trying to blend in, my immediate thought is that they will instantly be flagged as suspicious by a hundred different automated systems (where is your advertising profile, credit history, location history, iris scan, microchip??) There proba…

I'm slightly less concerned about being anonymous from the government and far more concerned about being anonymous from businesses . How is it that every time I move, they still figure out where I live and continue to send me junk mail? I'm extremely concerned about the ease of arbitrary businesses finding out where some person lives. I want this to be unethical to the point that whoever leaked my address without my…

Assuming you are in US. If you fill out change of address form, then USPS tells them: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/07/08/how-the-p...

The direct mail business has this “public records” part figured out pretty well and they gather the data from anywhere they can. Wouldn’t be surprised if utility bills factor in as well.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#43

The Screeps detail seems like something that could be fairly easily pursued... there can't have been that many players of that game to begin with, let alone those that would care so much about it that they would journal their thoughts about it. A quick check of the GitHub repo doesn't show he contributed code, but might he have opened an issue, contributed to docs? Might there be someone who was active in the communi…

This seems like this would be the way to go. Steam shows less than 200 players for March and April of 2017 and if there are logs that far back, the Screeps team can likely provide some data about users who dropped out in March or April of that year as well

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#44
post #35

I wonder how long it will be before someone truly cannot be anonymous in this country (or the world). Whenever I come across a book/movie about someone traveling to the future and trying to blend in, my immediate thought is that they will instantly be flagged as suspicious by a hundred different automated systems (where is your advertising profile, credit history, location history, iris scan, microchip??) There proba…

It is much easier in third world countries to hide children / existance. This will make them attractive.

In the future you describe you would have a hacked or stolen id.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#45
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone wants to check, I'd bet he at least forked or starred the github repo. A script to pull the list of those people, minus anyone whos been active since april 2017, would probably show his account.

Looking at https://imgur.com/a/eTphrRF The code that he writes is a blend of languages. The arrow operators -> is indicative of C/C++ but C/C++ doesn't use nil or function. It's like he thinks in C/C++ first which puts him at about my age mid-40s. Anyone younger than 40 would be using dots '.' due to Java/Javascript/Python instead of '->'. Does anyone else get that vibe?

PHP also uses -> and is still popular with those younger than 40. The lack of $ gives it away though. This is a very curious case indeed.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#46
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's dead, dude. There is no privacy. Diogenes of Sinope solved this already.

There is privacy. Citing a philosopher that made his life into a joke doesn't magically make privacy disappear.

Without citing philosophers, how do you reach the conclusion that your identity, once dead, (and therefore your vital status) is a private information?

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#47
post #31
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DNA is our best bet, but as we see it's the missing part of the story. With this said, it makes for a decent fictional writing prompt. It's 2045, the cold case on Mostly Harmless has been reopened after 24 years. Advances in DNA matching technology beyond what we imagined possible in 2020 have occurred. Detective Williams submits the preserved DNA to the US National DNA Registry (DNAR). Within minutes an exceptionall…

"DNA is our best bet" No, social networks are. More than likely there are people who absolutely know who he is, they just need to see the photo. DNA databases are not necessarily comprehensive, if there aren't people in his lineage who are both registered and who know about/of him, then it won't work.

Put his dna into 23andme and a detailed family chart will emerge.

This is the future of crime fighting, or if someone has lost memories.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#48
post #34

Young men don't die for 'no reason'. It's odd that they couldn't find some cause of death, I assumed that in 2020 we'd be able to make a rough estimate. If there's no obvious foul play then statistically the obvious one would be suicide, but that should narrow only to a few specific things. How many ways are there for one to 'just die' while lying in a tent.

The article says he weighed 86 lbs, so it sounds like he died of starvation or malnutrition.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#49
post #12
post #7

It's amazing how rude Facebook, reddit, and in this case, greedy companies, can be. If he cared enough about anyone knowing who he was, he'd have told someone. This is just blatant disregard for a man's privacy.

He posed for a number of photographs and videos. He interacted with many people. He never expressed the desire to remain anonymous that you intuit. If someone wants to slip away quietly into the void, there are much better ways to do it than this path. I'd argue it's honoring him and the honorable life he seems to have led to pursue this investigation. Not to mention there may be a number people who will get peace fr…

The article at least hints to the fact that MH was weary about digital evidence: "He asked Mostly Harmless if he could take a picture. Mostly Harmless hesitated but then agreed"

Are there better ways to slip into the void than going into the wilderness without even a phone?

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at https://imgur.com/a/eTphrRF The code that he writes is a blend of languages. The arrow operators -> is indicative of C/C++ but C/C++ doesn't use nil or function. It's like he thinks in C/C++ first which puts him at about my age mid-40s. Anyone younger than 40 would be using dots '.' due to Java/Javascript/Python instead of '->'. Does anyone else get that vibe?

PHP also uses -> and is still popular with those younger than 40. The lack of $ gives it away though. This is a very curious case indeed.

Definitely not drowning in $variables, he's 40 something.
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