Talk:Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:Cryptosystems
From the Quicksilver Metaweb.
I havent gotten that far in the book yet, but is there any mention of the Solitaire system ( http://www.schneier.com/solitaire.html ) from Cryptonomicon? Considering its association with Enoch Root in that book, and its impementation with a deck of cards, it seems appropriate to expect it in this context.
I don't believe there's anything like Solitaire in Quicksilver. --Pat 12:59, 11 Oct 2003 (PDT)
Having read through Quicksilver, I didn't find a mention of anything resembling the Solitare algorithm and in Cryptonomicon it seemed to me that Root developed Solitare sometime after WWII. Additionally, in the time period that Quicksilver takes place in the Vigenère Cipher is considered too complex for most uses, to say nothing of Solitare's keystream generation system. --Ckape
Cardinal Richelieu's grille; "Bishop John Wilkins invents a cryptologic system looking like music notes. In a book he describes several forms of steganographic systems like secrets inks, but also the string cipher. He mentions the so-called Pig Latin, a spoken way of encryption that was already used by the ancient Indians;" & Dee's Enochian Alphabet are discussed: http://www.world-information.org/wio/infostructure/100437611776/100438658974?opmode=contents - Sparky
The big problem I see is the heroes/villains in both books so far are smart. The cyrpto-embroidery works because Eliza is able to hold her own with very clever folks. The good women who instilled her strong moral sense were bound to have their own 'secret language.' Any or all the three below would an excellent way for the 'dim' to speak openly without fear. Half-Cocked Jack would need something akin to the grille.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_latin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jargon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_terminology
I'd keep an eye open for 'masonspeak' in the plaintext GRUBENDOL correspondence which caused Oldenburg and later Daniel Waterhouse to be locked up when I reread the book this week. - Sparky 16:17, 26 Oct 2003 (PST)
In addition most of the members of the Royal Society would have been familar with a variation of this - http://mastermason.com/temple1/cipher.htm - which is a classic American Civil War example of encoding information which I remember it from a child's book on codes, either the Young Scientists or Encyclopedia Brown. Plus any covert group worth its salt would have a means of silent comunication. - Sparky 22:28, 26 Oct 2003 (PST)
I remember Dave Draper at my workplace. He didn't need the whistle as he had perfect pitch or something. Heh. - Sparky