Thoughts?

Jeff.

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Jeff wrote (2022-01-22):

Thoughts?

One theory is that it is medieval Hebrew with the wrong charset.

But why?

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* Origin: Birds aren't real (21:3/102)

Hello Jeff!

** On Saturday 22.01.22 - 21:46, Jeff wrote to All:

Thoughts?

And yours?

I don't think I've ever heard of it, although I have a feeling
that I encountered the story of its mystery with the "complete
edition" published for the masses in 2017.

Having commited myself to read the wiki version of this thing,
I would conclude that there is much ado about nothing and that
it is either a hoax, complete gibberish with sophisticated
doodles.

It is astonishing how much professional and academic interest
has been invested in studying that thing. Yet, no one has been
able to come close to presenting a compelling solution at all.


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On 23 Jan 2022, Oli said the following...

Thoughts?

One theory is that it is medieval Hebrew with the wrong charset.

Indeed.

But why?

Why did I ask, or why would someone do that?

I asked just to start a conversation. The VM is something I find very intriguing.

I have no idea why someone would go through all of that trouble.

Jeff.

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On 23 Jan 2022, Ogg said the following...

Thoughts?

And yours?

I find it very intriguing, even if it is a hoax or gibberish. Somebody went through a lot of trouble to do that (although, in my opinion, they skimped on the illustrations). If it is a hoax or gibberish, how does one prove that?
I'm not sure, but I think that would be as successful a resolution as finding whatever message it contains (if any).

Having commited myself to read the wiki version of this thing,
I would conclude that there is much ado about nothing and that
it is either a hoax, complete gibberish with sophisticated
doodles.

Fair enough. If it is a hoax, I wonder if it is really gibberish; is it truly random? Or is there some sort of pattern to the writing that might prove it a hoax?

It is astonishing how much professional and academic interest
has been invested in studying that thing. Yet, no one has been
able to come close to presenting a compelling solution at all.

True. But there have been tantalizing clues, such as the carbon-dating
results. The thing, whatever it is, has been around for quite some time.

I, as a rule, never write in books if that was not their explicit intent (puzzle books, etc.) and one part of me is somewhat aghast that people over
the centuries would write in the VM. But then again, that writing becomes
part of the history of, as you say, professional and academic interest. Although none of the purported translations have been very compelling, I also enjoy studying the different approaches people take to tackling it, from the statistical and linguistic analyses on one end to the truly illogical on the other.

Jeff.

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Hello Jeff!

** On Sunday 23.01.22 - 10:58, Jeff wrote to Oli:

I asked just to start a conversation. The VM is something I
find very intriguing.

I have no idea why someone would go through all of that
trouble.

Ultimately the product seems to point to a deranged:delusional
mind. It only makes sense to the author/artist.

Perhaps, the closest analogy would be why do people configure
BBSes? LOL!

If you haven't already, check out the "recent" decoding story
behind the cryptographic messages from the Zodiac Killer from
the 60's.


--- OpenXP 5.0.51
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On 23 Jan 2022, Ogg said the following...

I have no idea why someone would go through all of that
trouble.

Ultimately the product seems to point to a deranged:delusional
mind. It only makes sense to the author/artist.

If that's the case, I wonder if there's anything we can learn about that mind from the manuscript, short of fully translating it.

Perhaps, the closest analogy would be why do people configure
BBSes? LOL!

Heh! Or TempleOS, a biblical-themed x86 operating system designed by a schizophrenic.

If you haven't already, check out the "recent" decoding story
behind the cryptographic messages from the Zodiac Killer from
the 60's.

Do you happen to have a link to the most recent stories?

Jeff.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Cold War Computing BBS (21:1/180)

Hello Jeff!

** On Sunday 23.01.22 - 12:36, Jeff wrote to Ogg:

Perhaps, the closest analogy would be why do people
configure BBSes? LOL!

Heh! Or TempleOS, a biblical-themed x86 operating system
designed by a schizophrenic.

Yes.. I am familiar with that story. But apparently, it was a
fine work from a technical standpoint.

By comparison, the VM is just a undecipherable (yet
artistically beautiful in some ways) mess.

If you haven't already, check out the "recent" decoding
story behind the cryptographic messages from the Zodiac
Killer from the 60's.

Do you happen to have a link to the most recent stories?

Not really. It was in 2020 when some news about cracking his
code emerged. I remember reading a few. The odd one went into
very interesting detail on the decipher process, but I don't
have a note of it. There would be plenty of stories you could
look up online and compare.


--- OpenXP 5.0.51
* Origin: Key ID = 0x5789589B (21:4/106.21)

On 24 Jan 2022, Ogg said the following...

Perhaps, the closest analogy would be why do people
configure BBSes? LOL!

Heh! Or TempleOS, a biblical-themed x86 operating system
designed by a schizophrenic.

Yes.. I am familiar with that story. But apparently, it was a
fine work from a technical standpoint.

Indeed.

By comparison, the VM is just a undecipherable (yet
artistically beautiful in some ways) mess.

Or is it? Until we can prove that it contains no message, then the
possibility exists that it does. And yet, we can't prove that it does contain
a message.

Another example of a message that has not been decoded is the Kryptos
sculpture in Langley, VA. The first three of its messages have been
deciphered, but the fourth remains a mystery but not due to lack of effort.
And yet it was made to be decoded, albeit with much difficulty. So there are things that we cannot yet decode.

And there are also things that are deliberate hoaxes. The problem seems to be distinguishing between the two.

Jeff.

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