[Movie] Voynich Talk E3: Why your Voynich theory is wrong (pt2)

[Koen G]

I knew approaching the problem as one of alphabet size would be slightly controversial, especially since there are workarounds that could still make this one aspect work (like assuming extensive use of digraphs or some ambiguity). The general situation in the middle ages wasn't as bad as modern English of course. English had the misfortune that its process of spelling standardization coincided with drastic changes in the language like the Great Vowel Shift, which is why there is such a mismatch.

The reason why I chose this approach is that it allowed me to talk some more about entropy without mentioning entropy. It's an entropy video in disguise. It also allowed me to show that obscure languages aren't magical solutions, nor are syllabaries, abbreviations, abjads... And it works much better than I thought. I got a lot of people aware of some of the VM issues and thinking about them.

One thing I'd like to do personally is talk for two hours instead of 15 minutes. But I'm specifically aiming at a broader audience, and most people will much more readily watch (and pay attention to) a well-trimmed 15 minute explainer rather than an hour long exposition. So unfortunately I've had to cut out a lot of side notes, exceptions etc.