(19-11-2021, 08:00 AM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.My fear remains that a monetary prize would simply increase the amount of Cheshires, people who get their solutions published through dubious means and defend it aggressively.
I think it would increase the number of Cheshires, but I also think it would increase the number of genuine researchers. However I think that many other, but not all, prizes can face the same problems. This is not and cannot be a problem unique to the Voynich. I think that perhaps what we need is better procedures to handle the Cheshires, so that they present much less of a problem.
(19-11-2021, 08:00 AM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view."Let’s begin with two things that science prizes are not. First, they are not goals. They differ from Olympic Medals or Super Bowl Rings. In sports, the goal is to win the prize. If you don’t finish first, you are a loser. In science the goal is to discover truth – prizes are a pleasant after-thought."
If Beinecke were to offer a prize for, let's say, "generally great achievements in research" then that would be different. This prize would have to be open to all, regardless of the field in which research is being done. Someone who solves the VMS would certainly be a good candidate for such a prize. He / She wouldn't be competing for the money but the prize would be, as Koen said, a pleasant after-thought. Hardly anyone would pick the VMS just with the intention of winning such a prize. There are certainly other areas of research that are more likely to be successful because one does not have to deal with so many "unknowns" ( if it is only about the money ).
People like Cheshire wouldn't have a chance anyway. Of course, I trust the Beinecke to be a much better judge than any print media or some interested laymen.
Right now, there are already more than a dozen people who are convinced that they have solved it.
A few are writing here.
Could the Beinecke be sued for not handing out the prize money?
(19-11-2021, 04:28 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Right now, there are already more than a dozen people who are convinced that they have solved it.
A few are writing here.
Well, objectively speaking, the VMS is still unsolved. I see the proposed solutions offered here in the forum as what they are, namely proposals. They are subject to constructive criticism here and are probably presented for that very purpose. There is nothing wrong with that and the feedback received can inspire further improvement of the work. To say "Here I have the solution for general notice and done" would certainly not be the right way. In my opinion, no one is currently so close to a solution that it would be worthy of a prize.
(19-11-2021, 04:28 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Right now, there are already more than a dozen people who are convinced that they have solved it.
A few are writing here.
Do you mean this thread or on this website?
(19-11-2021, 04:28 PM)ReneZ dateline='1637335707' Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Could the Beinecke be sued for not handing out the prize money?
Of course not. I think what applies to the Voynich also applies to other prizes.
There are prizes in Mathematics for solving particular problems. Just, because someone thinks that they have solved(normally this means proved) the problem doesn't mean they have. I am quite sure that there are plenty of people who have claimed to have solved some of these problems, who haven't. In fact I can recall the article about an academic who has claimed to have proven the Riemann Hypothesis or some other theory, but whose proof has not been accepted by the wider academic community as it is believed to be flawed in some way. If he were(or maybe he has) to sue the organisation (it is a "Millenium Prize" problem) claiming he has proved it then they would face the same problem. So in short other prizes manage to resolve concerns like these, so I don't see how the Voynich would be fundamentally different.
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view.
Searching online it is clear that many people in recent times have claimed to have proved the Riemann hypothesis, including one very eminent academic. However none of those claimed proofs have been accepted. This is just an example, but I am sure lots of prizes face this kind of issue.
Pure research does use prizes to direct individuals towards certain goals.
In maths, we had the famous Hilbert challenges in 1900 which were supposed to direct his peers towards problems he thought were important; this was repeated at the end of the last century with the Millennium prize problems, which I think were offering a million dollars a solution.
There are lots of them out there.
I'd say the VMs situation is unique. In the black and white world of mathematics, a proof is a proof. Everything else is a proposed hypothesis. If the prize is given for a solution to the VMs, what is that solution? Essentially the prize is for the reliable and replicable interpretation and potential decipherment of the VMs linguistic text.
Is there some other prize for reading an unknown language in some other, "genuine", medieval manuscript?
The VMs is like intellectual quicksand. Those who bravely forge ahead continue to fail. The direct attack on language, the reading of EVA, is pure folly. Linguistic attacks have not provided results. However there are a number of visual clues, recognizable parts of medieval history and tradition, that are present in certain illustrations. The latest dating of those historical events occurs before the end of the C-14 date range.
The dual interpretations of White Aries are clear. Deception is a part of the game. The rough appearance of the illustrations is part of the disguise; there was a clever mind behind this.
(19-11-2021, 07:43 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I'd say the VMs situation is unique. In the black and white world of mathematics, a proof is a proof.
As far as some non-maths prizes with specific goals there are the following:
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view.
As far as a decipherment prize goes there is the following:
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view.
The Dickens Project is hosting a prize of £300 for the full or partial decipherment of a shorthand letter presumed to have been written by Charles Dickens
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
There are other decipherment prizes.