Cognitive Heist series #2: The Bait Man

8th Layer Insights

Welcome to part 2 of the Cognitive Heist miniseries: The Bait Man

• 🗝️ He doesn’t pick the lock.
• 🚪 He doesn’t sneak in the back.
• 🪝 He just leaves something shiny on the ground and waits for you to pick it up.

Enter "The Bait Man": the scammer who lets your own curiosity or greed do all the work.

Part 2 of Cognitive Heist explores:

👉 Why bait-based scams (phishing, “found” USBs, QR traps, honeytexts) work so well

👉 The irresistible psychology of forbidden knowledge and too-good-to-miss offers

👉 A chilling parallel with the Nazi gold train legend—possibly the most expensive “nothing” in history

👉 The ancient myth of Pandora’s Box... and what it says about modern clickbait

👉 And as always: tentacles, noir, and cognitive traps.

In other news:

👉 The FAIK Files: Climbing Through the Context Window

• Audio version: https://pod.link/1771521321/episode/3ec38fa7cd599b26e3c7fde25651a3f0
• YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ntZlQ4Lbkw

👉 Research Paper of the Week: Project Vend-- Can Claude run a small shop? (And why does that matter?)

• Anthropic's page discussing the experiment
• Business Insider

P.S. -- Just a quick reminder that I've got a great book out that's all about deepfakes, disinformation, and deception. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already: https://ThisBookIsFAIK.com.

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