The Voynich Ninja

IMO, there are two aspects to the VMs, the linguistic and the pictorial. And the question is whether the same logical situation is present both aspects. I believe they are different. Linguistic investigations produce results that are speculative. Investigation into VMs illustrations allows for the introduction of traditional interpretation as an independent element.

The difficulties of validating speculative linguistic solutions are clearly addressed in the previous comments. Language seems to be an all or none situation. The comparison of images is a slightly lower hurdle because the comparison with tradition introduces a sort of independent arbiter. Does the VMs match the standards of tradition, rather than matching one individual's hypothesis. The matching of images and traditions can be done on an individual, progressive basis, and those that appear to succeed can be set aside for further analysis. The recovery of traditional terminology in the naming of the nebuly line supplements the prospective interpretations of the VMs cosmos and the VMs critter. Progress is possible.

I'm sorry to hear that Rene isn't convinced by my bananemon. Like Homer Simpson's butt, it's yellow from every angle, with no ifs and only one but.

(28-05-2020, 10:33 AM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It just happened to me this morning. A few days ago I had been trying to solve a computer-graphics related problem and wasn't sure how to go about it. After numerous fruitless attempts, I put it aside. I woke up this morning and there it was... a strategy that didn't occur to me while I was consciously trying to solve it. But I don't think it would have bubbled to the surface if I hadn't already had a reasonably good understanding of the subject matter. I suspect that inspiration is 90% preparation.

I absolutely agree that inspiration can only happen on the basis of fundamental knowledge. And the breakthrough cannot be achieved by newcomers (see for example "amateur" Michael Ventris). However, is the fundamental knowledge itself without act of inspiration capable of solving nontrivial tasks - is a big question.

Coincidentally I found You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. article in Russian today (which is translation of an You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. by Isaak Asimov). Good citation on... hmm.... the topic:

"Obviously, then, what is needed is not only people with a good background in a particular field, but also people capable of making a connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem connected."

Creativity, in my mind, is a form of intelligence, and an indispensable part of scientific inquiry.

If it's not working, you have to be willing and able to step back and come at it from another angle. But it still helps for logic and good methodology to underly these attempts.