How can these isolated, silent individuals find the others without going public about it?
They can’t. Literally any change in behavior is (a bit of) Bayesean evidence for their beliefs. More importantly, if they believe it’s that dangerous and should be left unknown for as long as possible, they probably should not try to find each other. Just burn your work and make it impossible to disclose (deceptively, by acquiring syphilis or something).
In more sane belief-sets, there are probably no discoveries that are both foreseeably dangerous and possible to delay by more than a few years. Someone in this situation should focus on making trusted people aware earlier than untrusted ones will discover it independently.
They can’t. Literally any change in behavior is (a bit of) Bayesean evidence for their beliefs. More importantly, if they believe it’s that dangerous and should be left unknown for as long as possible, they probably should not try to find each other. Just burn your work and make it impossible to disclose (deceptively, by acquiring syphilis or something).
In more sane belief-sets, there are probably no discoveries that are both foreseeably dangerous and possible to delay by more than a few years. Someone in this situation should focus on making trusted people aware earlier than untrusted ones will discover it independently.