Philosophical Question

[cassa333]

Something me and the Cassa family were discussing earlier and I said I would have a ponder about.

If you are told a secret or there is something you really should tell and you don’t tell anyone that means you’ve kept the secret.

But what if you actually forget you’ve been told the secret ? Is it regarded as a secret kept?

I have a shockingly poor memory. So poor in fact that I can forget what I had for breakfast or indeed if I had breakfast.

I’ve had plenty of conversations that I’ve forgotten about. And only remember if prompted.

[Old_Geezer]

Of course. You haven't told anyone which is the very definition of keeping something secret.

[Zacs-Master]

i Can’t remember.

[237SJ]

In the second paragraph - There is something you really should tell. Do you mean "Shouldn't tell"?

[Old_Geezer]

But having forgotten you had a secret you are in danger of recalling it but not the promise to keep it secret.

[Buenchico]

You kept the secret (past tense) but you're no longer keeping it (present tense), since you can't keep a secret you don't know anyway.

[rowanwitch]

I never listen to secrets unless I have warned the teller if I think what you tell me should be shared for your benefit or because it shouldn't be a secret I won't keep it. I still get told a lot but have twice shared something given in confidence. Once because I felt there was a real risk of self harm, and the other because I knew the secret crush felt the same and I did a bit of matchmaking.

If I forgot the secret, then it's kept very securely but TBH I have a memory like an elephant so it's unlikely to happen.

[jennyjoan]

well I was told a very big secret - it could have split up a marriage - but the person who told me - never asked me to keep it a secret - I just did.

[choux]

I would hope that before being told a specific 'secret' one would be asked to keep a confidence. If thinking one can't keep a confidence then one has the opportunity to say 'do not tell me'. Thereafter it is down to one's integrity, honourableness and principles. I have kept confidences on several occasions and will carry them to my grave.

[albaqwerty]

If you've been asked to keep a secret, then keep it.
Store it away in a memory and forget you were ever told.

Or you forget that you were told a secret, err, well, - the only delicate way I can put this is not delicate at all. Early onset forgetfulness.
If you do not utter a word of what you have been asked to keep secret, then that secret is safe.

(gawd, I'm waffling!!)

[Canary42]

Philosophical indeed. I would say that since you've forgotten it, then you are no longer keeping a secret, until perhaps something reminds you of it, in which case you once more have a secret to keep (until you forget it again . and so ad infinitum )

[maggiebee]

I always warn folk that I'm hopeless at keeping secrets, so it's their choice if they tell me or not.

[RobNorth]

Keeping a secret gives a sense of satisfaction - forever.
Betraying a secret (for most people) gives twinge of guilt - forever.

[naomi24]

I'm an excellent secret keeper with an excellent memory for things that should be remembered. Rubbish at retaining information on things like technology - but that's what the internet is for. I can't imagine being in the situation you describe.

[RobNorth]

I recall seeing an elderly couple on TV who had met and married while working as codebreakers at Bletchley Park. It turned out that they had never ever discussed, over 70 years, any part of their relative roles there. When the interviewer asked why they both said "it was secret".
I think it's different now, but one will never know.....

[Ellipsis]

With credit to http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/1078/Tommy-Flowers/, here's an example of a secret kept ...

Tommy Flowers was born in London's East End on 22 December 1905, the son of a bricklayer. He became a telecoms engineer. During the war, assigned to Bletchley Park, he proposed the design for Colossus, the world's first programmable electronic computer. Management at Bletchley Park was sceptical and encouraged Flowers to continue alone rather than prioritising the project. Flowers put his own money into the machine to get the project off the ground. It paid off - he was soon assigned staff and priority access to resources. When Colossus began operating at Bletchley Park in January 1944, his system ran five times faster than the rival electro-mechanical switch machine, named Heath Robinson.
A Mark II redesign of Colossus entered service on 1 June 1944 and immediately provided vital intelligence regarding the D-Day landings, such as the disposition of German troops in Normandy. The machines continued providing vital intelligence until the end of the war. Ten units were operational during World War II. All but two were dismantled after the war. This last pair may have provided codebreaking services during the Cold War before finally being decommissioned in 1959 and 1960.

Flowers was rewarded with an MBE and a £1,000 grant, which did not even cover his investment in Colossus. His work was not publicly revealed until the 1970s. Today, the place of Colossus in computing history is assured, and Flowers is acknowledged as the principal architect of the machine.

[Peter Pedant]

I usually say no thanks I dont need to hear.
[ live in a kinda roughish area of the city]

unless it is really good of course -

I have also found - the seccret of Mrs so-and-so who had a child that no one knew about - it sort of turns out that the whole village knew but lost interest in 1946.

[Peter Pedant]

Ellipsis thanks for the walk darn memory lane

the fella (winterbottom) who sued to threaten them with a gun if they told - was the first to break the news - he needed the money

quite a few of the code breakers migrated and appeared to show signs of PTSD ( yeah stress disorder) - and I wondered if they were a ware that the people who said they must keep mum - collected awards and enhanced pensions because they COULD talk about their achievements.....(pushing papers around and generallyu winning the war from behind a desk a bit like Gen de Gaulle)

Didnt Flowers keep his plans ? as in I was told to shred them but oops I forgot somehow ....

I mean Shaun Wyllie went back to Cambridge and sort of comtinued as a Prof of maff ....