Hoax theory discovery by running lang analysis program according to my methodology

[rikforto]

It feels like this theory is basically "has anyone tried to work out how voynichese may have been written? maybe that will solve it".

It remains significant to me that Timm and Schinner said:

Keep in mind that the VMS was created by a human writer who had complete freedom to vary some details of the generating algorithm on the spur of a moment. An exact reproduction of all of his/her mental rules is not only most likely impossible, but would still leave the problem of unpredictable random (aesthetic) decisions.

and

Most likely, it is impossible to devise an exact mathematical proof that an arbitrary set of strings is truly meaningless, or not. This would involve a general method to compute upper boundaries to the Kolmogorov complexity.

Plucking a scholarly work's concessio statements like this borders on strawman, so let me disclaim they are embedded in larger points worth considering. But the paper that launched this ship casts serious doubt on the idea that there is even a strict algorithm to be found. Without fully devolving into a semantic debate, I have some reservations calling the process that generated the Voynich "the generating algorithm" if we think a significant part of it is likely to be aesthetic decisions, though I take the main direction of the authors' point, that it's one thing to claim that this supports the idea that auto-citation can create patterns we see in the manuscript, but its another for them to have to prove the manuscript was generated that way down to a very refined level of detail.

This distinction between a strict algorithm and a copy process that can be algorithmically modelled becomes much more acute if you're hoping to make fine-grained identifications. (Or if you're hoping other people will, as the case may be.) It may well be that this is possible, and that Timm and Schinner conceded too much, so people are free to take this on as a challenge. After all, arguing stronger claims were possible is a whole genre in academic writing. But people should heed where, and more importantly why, they limited their conclusions if they are hoping to extend them.