The Monkey Trap Paradox Lock

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig recounts a parable about “the old South Indian Monkey Trap.” The trap is simple: a hollowed-out coconut or wooden box, chained to a stake, with a small hole in the side just big enough for a monkey to reach inside.
‍
Inside the coconut are treats—fruits and rice—irresistible to a hungry monkey. The monkey slides its hand in, grabs a fistful of the food, and tries to pull it back out. But with its hand now clenched around the prize, the monkey can’t fit it back through the narrow hole. Caught in the trap, it becomes an easy target.

But here’s the key: the monkey isn’t physically trapped. It’s trapped by its own unwillingness to let go, by its own ambition. The instinct that’s served it so well—“hold tight to food when you find it”—has now turned dangerous, locking the monkey in place.

Now, imagine someone wants to get into your storage by brute force. Making you connect your device against your will. Criminals, law enforcers, anyone whose power at the given circumstances are superior to yours. They are evil monkeys and they want your fruit, there is nothing you can do. Well, actually, there is one thing. Enabling MTPL in your security settings in the Private Storage dApp. How does it work?

1. You enable MTPL in the dApp.
2. You set up two passwords: safe pass and emergency pass.
3. Now multiple situations can occur:
   ‍
   • a. If it’s safe to open the storage, you enter your safe password and do whatever you want with your files.
   • b. f someone is forcing you, just enter your emergency pass. It will lock all your files for 24h, while displaying empty storage. The result, no one but you will know there the files unlock in 24h. All they will see is empty storage.

In essence, evil monkeys are so blinded by the fruit they can smell, that by greed and ambition they are trapping themselves. And, ironically, fully protecting your files.

Monkey Trap Paradox Lock comes in Private Storages 2.0 — mid-December 2024.


The future is bright (and monkeys are trapped).