Scientific Progress

[ReneZ]

Stating a theory, and then looking for evidence to support it, is fundamentally wrong.

One has to look for evidence both for and against it, and then weigh.

One also has to listen to others, and weigh in their information.

In my professional life, at the time I was doing my masters, a certain quantity could be measured with an accuracy of about 70 cm, and the goal for the next decade or so was set to 10 cm. I have witnessed the continuous improvements with contributions from universities and scientific centres all across the world, setting up competing models, and by the time I retired, 1 cm could be achieved by many groups. That took about 35 years.

Of course, this was a different environment, where success could be measured rather precisely.
It would have been far more difficult to stick to invalid theories.

But that's still a good guideline for people trying to understand the Voynich MS.

1. Realise what can be demonstrated and what cannot be.

Theories about the meaning of the text can usually be measured to quite a reasonable extent, but many of these theories include opinions that cannot be measured (are unfalsifiable) or include non-sequiturs, occasionally not obvious ones.

2. Be prepared to drop an idea when it's appropriate to do that

3. Realise how much is speculation and how much is based on observation, and be critical about it. And beware those non-sequiturs.