20-02-2020, 12:56 AM
@LisaFaginDavis, I've been looking forward to hearing this talk since you announced it. I had a pipe dream of making it up to NYC to hear it in person, but having young triplets and a small business ensured that this remained a pipe dream.
I am aware that your findings in no way prove that the VMS was made by more than one person. I'll leave that argument to those here who have expertise in paleography and codicology, and are much more comfortable playing the role of the skeptic than I am.
Nevertheless, I've been thinking a bit about the ramifications of the VMS being determined to be the work of more than one scribe. If more than one writer was involved, this makes it more likely that the VMS's creation was discussed and documented, and could have left some trace in the historical record. Benjamin Franklin's famous aphorism, "Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead" comes to mind.
I contrast this with the literary works of modern-day outsider artists like Francis Darger or James Hampton. These works tend to be the product of one (unique!) mind. The process of their creation involved no social discourse or feedback, and went entirely undocumented by anyone but the author. Thus, discovered after the author's death, works of Outsider Literature are to some degree impenetrable. The intentions and mental machinations that went into creating them die with their solitary authors. This, if most of the evidence supported the VMS being the creation of a single person, this makes it much harder to speculate on the circumstances and intention behind its creation.
Also, the more people who were involved in the VMS's creation, the more likely it is that Voynichese functioned as an actual system of symbolic communication between people, even if only briefly and in the most rudimentary way. And even if Voynichese truly is meaningless, the involvement of more than one scribe makes it less likely the intention in composing it was deceptive. After all, if I had the skills and the motivation to create a fake but believable mysterious book as part of a con job, then keeping in mind Franklin's quote above, I'd want as few people involved as possible. Ideally no one besides me would even know about me writing it.
I am aware that your findings in no way prove that the VMS was made by more than one person. I'll leave that argument to those here who have expertise in paleography and codicology, and are much more comfortable playing the role of the skeptic than I am.
Nevertheless, I've been thinking a bit about the ramifications of the VMS being determined to be the work of more than one scribe. If more than one writer was involved, this makes it more likely that the VMS's creation was discussed and documented, and could have left some trace in the historical record. Benjamin Franklin's famous aphorism, "Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead" comes to mind.
I contrast this with the literary works of modern-day outsider artists like Francis Darger or James Hampton. These works tend to be the product of one (unique!) mind. The process of their creation involved no social discourse or feedback, and went entirely undocumented by anyone but the author. Thus, discovered after the author's death, works of Outsider Literature are to some degree impenetrable. The intentions and mental machinations that went into creating them die with their solitary authors. This, if most of the evidence supported the VMS being the creation of a single person, this makes it much harder to speculate on the circumstances and intention behind its creation.
Also, the more people who were involved in the VMS's creation, the more likely it is that Voynichese functioned as an actual system of symbolic communication between people, even if only briefly and in the most rudimentary way. And even if Voynichese truly is meaningless, the involvement of more than one scribe makes it less likely the intention in composing it was deceptive. After all, if I had the skills and the motivation to create a fake but believable mysterious book as part of a con job, then keeping in mind Franklin's quote above, I'd want as few people involved as possible. Ideally no one besides me would even know about me writing it.