30-08-2019, 07:33 PM
Rene says:
"If all of the VMs text is somehow the result of a random process, in the style of Rugg or Timm, then we would see something different."
The question is what do we mean by 'random' here. It is very unlikely the contents of the Voynich was produced by implementing an algorithm. So even if the text was meaningless it does necessary mean it is 'random'. Has anyone here tried to produce random text? I think one would find it quite different from random text produced by a algorithm on a computer. It is true the author used have used a process like rolling dice, tossing coins or spinning a roulette wheel to generate random text. However if one as a human is trying to generate random text the nature of that text would be a function of the cognitive biases and psychology behavioural patterns. So one might ask what patterns one might expect a human to produce when trying manually to generate meaningless text and what techniques might that person use to assist them in creating convincing random text. It seems there is an assumption that humans operate like standard computer and the patterns should reflect that.
As I have stated I think a significant portion is filler, but I don't believe this was produced by some automated process, but rather was a function of the author's imaginative attempt to produce confusing text.
"If all of the VMs text is somehow the result of a random process, in the style of Rugg or Timm, then we would see something different."
The question is what do we mean by 'random' here. It is very unlikely the contents of the Voynich was produced by implementing an algorithm. So even if the text was meaningless it does necessary mean it is 'random'. Has anyone here tried to produce random text? I think one would find it quite different from random text produced by a algorithm on a computer. It is true the author used have used a process like rolling dice, tossing coins or spinning a roulette wheel to generate random text. However if one as a human is trying to generate random text the nature of that text would be a function of the cognitive biases and psychology behavioural patterns. So one might ask what patterns one might expect a human to produce when trying manually to generate meaningless text and what techniques might that person use to assist them in creating convincing random text. It seems there is an assumption that humans operate like standard computer and the patterns should reflect that.
As I have stated I think a significant portion is filler, but I don't believe this was produced by some automated process, but rather was a function of the author's imaginative attempt to produce confusing text.