tavie > 20-04-2024, 11:24 PM
(18-04-2024, 12:35 AM)asteckley Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.That begs the questions "Is there anything that would persuade you that it IS a modern forgery?"
There are as many ways to falsify the modern forgery theory as there are to falsify the genuine medieval manuscript theory. A clear reference to the manuscript from a pre-19th century source is one obvious possibility that would falsify it.
tavie > 20-04-2024, 11:27 PM
(18-04-2024, 09:09 PM)proto57 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Ironically, when I explain, at length and in great detail, my reasoning and the basis for it, it is then said I am "gish galloping", or as Rene said years ago, "arm waving". Which is it? Am I sweeping things under the rug; or explaining in too much detail, every detail?
(18-04-2024, 09:09 PM)proto57 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I had to look up this "Gish Gallop", and first of all I have to say it is both incorrect to claim this about me, and also a pretty nasty thing to do soI can't speak for what Karl meant but I don't think it's a deliberate tactic. Some "solvers" do it too, and I don't think they use it deliberately either. It's just how our brains work when we are emotionally attached to a belief (we are trying to convince ourselves as well as others) and there is a lot of emotion coming across in this thread.
(18-04-2024, 09:09 PM)proto57 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.But here is the kicker, the "coup de grace": In that book is mentioned Jakub Hořčický, with a seemingly invented (the book has many errors, and seemingly fanciful inventions) brother Christian Hořčický. This Christian Hořčický is in the place of Jakub in history, in that he is the chief botanist and physician to Rudolf. And as you know, Jakub Hořčický was later named Jakub Horčický z Tepence, and whose name appears as though a signature on the front page of the Voynich. As I wrote in The Primer for the Voynich Forgery, I believe Wilfrid’s original intent was to make the Voynich look as though it was a work from the hand of the (probably invented) Christian Hořčický, a character who Bolton places as the owner of the (also imaginary?) “The City Pharmacy” in the Capitol of Bohemia. Perhaps Wilfrid’s intention was that it looked to have been owned or written by him, or written and/or owned by his son, Jakub Hořčický. The latter is real, and was actually the chief botanist and physician to Rudolf II.- and, as I said, "signed" the Voynich.
(18-04-2024, 09:09 PM)proto57 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I do think this is a very poor forgery, and do not think its acceptance is due to any great ability on his part... but more attributable to a low standard of acceptance by the audience. It is human nature for people to think that if they are fooled, they were fooled by the greatest.
ReneZ > 21-04-2024, 01:14 AM
asteckley > 21-04-2024, 01:14 AM
(20-04-2024, 11:24 PM)tavie Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Saying "a clear reference to the manuscript from a pre-19th century source is one obvious possibility" is not at all obvious. It's far too vague, since as Karl pointed out, the Kircher correpondence has been rejected. What would be sufficiently "clear"? If the reference also mentioned the naked ladies and the signature? But wouldn't the counter-argument then be (as it is now) that Voynich must have somehow found out about it and based the manuscript off it? Would it need to have been sealed for centuries, or would there be an argument that Voynich could have forged a seal? This is why I don't think it's falsifiable because it doesn't seem possible to prove Voynich couldn't have, however unlikely it seems.
voynichbombe > 21-04-2024, 09:57 AM
Koen G > 21-04-2024, 10:24 AM
(21-04-2024, 09:57 AM)voynichbombe Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Back to the experts: What about Alain Touwaide?
tavie > 21-04-2024, 12:21 PM
(21-04-2024, 01:14 AM)asteckley Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.That, by the way, is also why "Voynich must have somehow found out about it and
based the manuscript off it" would NOT be a counter-argument. The clarity of a reference is not determined by whether Voynich
could have reproduced it -- it is determined by the unlikelihood that a description in a letter could apply to a different document than the VMS.
Mark Knowles > 21-04-2024, 12:43 PM
proto57 > 21-04-2024, 01:41 PM
(21-04-2024, 12:43 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.If the ink or other materials can be dated (such as if organic components can be carbon dated) to the early 15th century then Rich can argue that Voynich used old ink in his manuscript.
In fact if the text is deciphered and is shown to be consistent with the early 15th century as are the drawings it still allows room for Rich to claim it is a modern forgery.
There could be a thousand references to the Voynich in a thousand other sources, but Rich could just claim that they were also faked by Voynich.
So essentially the claim that the Voynich manuscript is a modern forgery is virtually unfalsifiable. However that hardly makes it likely that it is a modern forgery and liklihood is key here.
asteckley > 21-04-2024, 02:28 PM
(21-04-2024, 12:21 PM)tavie Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.My point was that even if a new reference was dug up that somehow we all agree is about the manuscript, falsifiability would not be secured because the challenge would be that Voynich had seen or been told of this reference. This is a real possibility because unless I've misunderstood the thread, Rich has argued that both that the correspondence is not specific enough and that Voynich could have found out about it and been inspired by it. So the forgery theory still does not seem falsifiable unless we can agree criteria in advance for determining that Voynich could not have seen or been told of the more precise reference.
It may be a failure of my imagination but I'm struggling to see from this thread how we could agree that. If Rene's case for the unlikihood of Voynich seeing the correspondence is not strong enough, what would be sufficient?