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Cryptanalysis not as a means to an end, but simply as a worthwhile process on its own
by Elonka at 2:10 pm EDT, May 23, 2005

One question I often get asked in interviews, is, "*Why* are people so interested in solving codes?". I can of course talk for awhile about the importance of codes in times of war, but there's also another more philosophical reason.

In one of the posts on a Kryptos brainstorming list, I saw this comment by one of the longtime Kryptos researchers, David Allen Wilson, and it struck a chord with me, so I am re-printing it here:

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Something that I've learned since I've started working on Kryptos is not to believe that we have to always be on the right track, or to believe that there -must- be a solution to part IV. Yes, I am working on part IV; not because there -has- to be a solution, but to learn. If we find the solution, great. If we don't, oh well.
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Well put!

Elonka :)