[split] Volvelles or Disks

[AliciaNelPresente]

It's a nice idea, but one that has been tested extensively. In my experience, even with a drift mechanism, the mechanical coupling can't simultaneously produce the high autocorrelation, low repetition, Zipfian distribution, and entropy profile that VMS exhibits.

Hi Ed,

I'm really intrigued by the tests you mentioned. Would you mind sharing any links or specific thread titles from the forum where this was discussed? (From the forum or any other source please)

The high autocorrelation isn't a linguistic choice. It’s a physical one. If the rings are interlocked, the state of the first glyph (the Gallow) forces the starting position of the next. 

About the Zipf’s Law and Entropy, in a natural language, you have infinite ways to combine letters. In a machine/volvelle, you only have a finite number of ''gear teeth''. This 'limited menu' is exactly what creates the low entropy and the flattened Zipfian curve that Mr René Zandbergen and Mr Jorge Stolfi identified.

If we assume the author was simply aligning rings and writing down the result instead of writing sentences, those "impossible" patterns become the natural result of using a tool like that.

Alicia