# The Kaiser Sose Dilemma **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 23, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120 "2010-02-23T14:44:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/21 "2010-02-23T17:52:15Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > OK, so let’s say it’s closer to 1000 than 200. Take out every one of them, and for safety, everyone that they know, and for extra safety every one thay **they** know. > > You’d essentially have to nuke China. To be fair, there’s going to be a great deal of overlap in the 1000 people I know and the thousand people that each of them know. I’d guess that I share at least half those people with my wife, so that doesn’t scale nearly as fast as it sounds. It’s still a ton of people, though. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/22 "2010-02-23T18:03:43Z")
True enough about the overlap. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/23 "2010-02-23T19:17:47Z")
In my LinkedIn profile, I have 196 1st degree connections, which extends to 22,000 second degree connections (sharing mutual friends). This represents only a small sample of the people I’ve actually known over the years, covering two higher education degrees (on two continents) and multiple jobs, a few with household name colleagues and/or employers. I also have an IMDB listing (though my popularity is down 68% this week) and a wife who’s even more popular (in her own way) than I am and a large family that primarily lives in another hemisphere. I’ve also found that my name is very memorable. So…200,000? ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/24 "2010-02-23T19:26:15Z")
Of course, if we’re not working in a vacuum, it gets even harder. Kill, say, 200 people that you know, and suddenly people are going to say, “Hey, those mass-murder victims all knew that one guy!” Instantly, more people know you, or would be seeking out information on you. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/25 "2010-02-23T19:39:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Eliminating all memory of me? Coupla thousand people, easy. Oh, the humanity! > > BTW, I’m sure glad “Need answer fast!” wasn’t part of the OP. Beautiful, just beautiful, Funniest post I’ve seen in days. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/26 "2010-02-23T20:02:02Z")
The internet is brilliant. I have friends in California, in London, in Paris, in Tel Aviv\*. You’d have to delete my posts off this board and multiple other message boards and kill everyone who had read them. It has made my words immortal! [evil cackle] \*This fact, I am nervous, might make me do very badly on a background check, because if I recall correctly part of certain clearance checks includes listing all of the countries your friends live in. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/27 "2010-02-23T20:02:19Z")
My name has been picked up in a few AP articles on national news stories. I’d say the number is pretty high. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/28 "2010-02-23T20:04:35Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > You are better off not even discussing Keyser Söze. There is no Keyser Söze. For your own good, just let it go. This makes sense. Good thing we’re all invisible and using aliases, right? I knew a guy in high school named Kyser, three in fact. I guess they’d have to go. Shame. Nice guys. I don’t think they even liked me. Tough. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/29 "2010-02-23T20:16:22Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > There are several spellings of the “The Usual Suspects” character/legend on the various search tools. There may be a faithful quotation of the exact story online somewhere. It doesn’t matter. Even though it doesn’t matter, I just had to go find [The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn’t exist](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnGo6Qm0Wt8&feature=related) Well done clip that captures the critical details, just in case anybody’s unfamiliar with the background for the thread’s title and theme. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/30 "2010-02-23T20:19:41Z")
My work has appeared in magazines with circulation around 100,000. On one hand, the number who actually remember it is much smaller. OTOH, the magazines are usually considered to be read by an average of over two people, and there is some non-overlap among the circulation numbers. There’s also things I’ve put on the Internet (not counting the SDMB). The only sensible solution is to change my name and address and never be photographed again. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120/31 "2010-02-23T20:23:15Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > This makes sense. Good thing we’re all invisible and using aliases, right? You are not as invisible as you might think. . . **John** :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kaiser-sose-dilemma/530120.md?page=1)