Making The Case That Voynich Is A Hoax

DeadVulcan writes "The Voynich Manuscript, a mysterious book of uncertain age, is widely believed to be written either in an unknown language or a long-lost encryption scheme. Nature reports that computer scientist Gordon Rugg has demonstrated that it's possible to generate a text like the Voynich manuscript -- containing language-like regularities, despite being potentially meaningless -- using cryptographic techniques of the time. This lends some support to those who claim that the book is a hoax."

Comments

My 2 cents

[SYFer]

01001001011000110110100000100000011001000110010101 10111001101011011001010010000001110011011001010110 10010110111000100000011101100110010101110010011011 01011101010111010001101100011010010110001101101000 00100000011001010110100101101110011001010110111000 10000001010100011011110111000001100110001000000110 00010110111000100000010100110110001101101000011001 0101101001110111110110010100101110

Re:My 2 cents

[decipher_saint]

01010111011001010110110001101100001000000100010001 0101010100100000100001

Re:My 2 cents

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually that translates to:
Ich denke sein vermutlich einen Topf an ScheiBe

Which, in english, means:
I probably think its a pot of shit

Re:My 2 cents

[tempfile]

Actually, it means
"I thinking be probably a pot of slice".

Ershlap?

[paul248]

Abdook artelly oppetrom uplocty?! Astenboorsley... af arcoolodople!

Bli, Fal.

Re:Ershlap?

[decipher_saint]

Are you my boss, 'cause you sound like him...

Am I fired yet?

Been there, done that

[User 956]

Gordon Rugg has demonstrated that it's possible to generate a text like the Voynich manuscript -- containing language-like regularities, despite being potentially meaningless

That's funny. I thought Darl McBride had already proven that with all those open letters he's written.

Mod me down, hippies!

Not the only book of this kind

[Graff]

There are several other books that are also filled with undecipherable gibberish that no one can understand. Here is another famous example.

think this is a sign.......

[inkpassion]

well after reading the post on this thread I think I shall retire my browser till tomorrow.

Repetitive nonsense eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

So kind of like a Microsoft press release then...

so obvious

[segment]

Gordon Rugg has used the techniques of Elizabethan espionage to recreate the Voynich manuscript, which has stumped code-breakers and linguists for nearly a century

Had Mr Rugg just used rot13 he would've cracked the code long ago. Want Crypto?

Looks like things haven't changed in 500 years!

[a-aiyar]

Lets see - it turns out that the Voynich manuscript is likely a bunch of drivel that pictures of naked women. Looks like we haven't come that far since it was written, as this Filipino edition of FHM would suggest!

Re:Missing the fact....

[User 956]

I think this report is missing the fact that if someone really wanted to make a hoax book, they could simply translate any other book (even the bible) into a made up language.

Indeed. Lets examine the results when translating Melville's classic "Moby Dick" into ebonics:

"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--neva' mind how long precisely-- havin' little o' no bre'd in mah' purse, and nodin' particular to interest me on sho'e, ah' dought ah' would sail about some little and see da damn boozey part uh de wo'ld. It be a way ah' have of drivin' off de spleen and regulatin' de circulashun. Wheneva' I find mah'self growin' grim about da damn moud; wheneva' it be a damp, drizzly Novemba' in mah' soul; wheneva' I find mah'self involuntarily pausin' befo'e coffin warecribs, and brin'in' down de rear uh every funeral ah' meet; and especially wheneva' my hypos dig such an downpuh' hand uh me, dat it requires some strong mo'al principle t'prevent me fum deliberately steppin' into de street, and medodically knockin' sucka's's hats off--den, ah' account it high time t'get t'sea as soon as ah' can.

'S coo', bro. Dis be my substitute fo' pistol and ball. Wid some philosophical flourish Cato drows himself downon his swo'd; I quietly snatch t'de ship. Jes hang loose, brud. Dere be nodin' surprisin' in dis. If dey but knowed it, mos' all dudes in deir degree, some time o' oder, cherish real nearly de same feelin's towards de ocean wid me. Dere now be yo' insular city uh de Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by co'al reefs--commerce surrounds it wid ha' surf. Right and left, de streets snatch ya' boozeward. Its 'estreme waaay downtown is de battery, where dat noble mole be wuzhed by waves, and waaay coo'ed by breezes, which some few hours previous wuz out uh sight uh land. Look at da damn crowds uh booze-gazers dere. Circumambulate da damn city uh a dredat fine femahnaine ladee Sabbad afternoon. 'S coo', bro. Go fum Co'lears Hook t'Coenties Slip, and fum dence, by Honkyhall, no'dward.

Whut do ya' see?--Posted likes silent sentinels all around da damn town, stand dousands downon dousands uh mo'tal dudes fixed in ocean reveries. Some leanin' against da damn spiles; some seated downon de pier-haids; some lookin' upside de bulwarks glasses! Right on! uh ships fum China; some high aloft in de riggin', as if strivin' t'get some still betta' seaward peep. Jes hang loose, brud. But dese is all landsmen; uh week days pent down in lad and plaster-- tied t'counters, nailed t'benches, clinched t'desks. How den be dis? Are da damn green fields gone? Whut do dey here? But look! Right on! here mosey on down mo'e crowds, pacin' straight fo' de booze, and seemin'ly bound fo' some dive. Strange! Right on! Nodin' gots'ta content dem but da damn extremest limit uh de land; loiterin' unda' de shady lee uh yonda' warecribs gots'ta not suffice. No. 'S coo', bro. Dey gots'ta get plum as nigh de booze as dey possibly kin widout fallin' in. 'S coo', bro.

And dere dey stand--miles uh dem--leagues. Inlanders all, dey mosey on down from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues,-- no'd, east, soud, and west. Man! Yet here dey all unite. Tell me, duz de magnetic virtue uh de needles uh de compasses of all dose ships attract dem dider?"

Anyone else get the feeling...

[carambola5]

Does anyone else get the feeling that these people are just saying "It's too hard. We give up" ?

Mod it Down

[Quirk]

A strange sixteenth-century book may be cunningly crafted nonsense...

contains pictures of unrecognizable flowers, naked nymphs

obviously a troll

From the article...

[aztektum]

To prove that the manuscript is a hoax, one would need to produce entire sections using this technique, says Pelling. Tweaking the grilles and tables should make this possible, reckons Rugg.

It's called a Xerox machine man.

Re:IF I EVER MEET YOU I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!!!

[el_munkie]

Come on, Mrs. Clinton, you're a United States Senator. Have the guts to say that without checking "Post Anonymously".

Wait! I got it!

[imag0]

It *is* encrypted quite well. However, after viewing the pages, printing them out and alligning them just so I have discovered the message hidden over the ages:

YHBT YHL HAND

Re:Beale Papers

[Lispy]

Wow, now I know whats my quest in 2004....The Treasure is mine...;-)

Where I can buy?

[e.colli]

Someone can send an amazon link to I buy a copy? Or where I can download a PDF version. ;) It's a nice christmas gift.

Re:It's one thing to say something is a hoax...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, Shakespeare can't be PRODUCED algorithmically, it can only be REPRODUCED in the manner you describe. Sheesh.

Rubbish, it is certainly possible to start from nothing and write shakespeare algorithmically, it (computer) will have to think about it for a while though. I can even do it in PHP ...

function write_shakespeare()
{
$text = NULL;
while(!is_shakespeare($text))
{
$text = get_random_old_english_text();
}
return $text;
}

is_shakespeare and get_random_old_english_text are left as an exercise for the reader.

Codebreak this!

[crazyhorse44]

Gue sepak biji lu!

The Voynich manuscript

[t0ny]

Have they tried casting "Read Magic" on it?

You can't permenantly do that

[porkchop_d_clown]

you see, new suckers are being born every minute.

Re:It's one thing to say something is a hoax...

[poot_rootbeer]

If he had found a truly elegant proof of the general case, and believed it was true, why not pose the general challenge?

hmm... because the margins were too small to pose it in?

Re:Burden on proof ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Forget about Voynich. Was that post even in English?

Repetitions in the Text

[wintermute1974]

Its text contains features found in no known language: for instance, its commonest words may be repeated two or three times in succession.
Source: http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/cs/staff/g.rugg/voyni ch/index.html

It is very, very, very unlikely that common words would be repeated again and again and again unless someone really, really, really wanted to.

I've cracked it!

[RealRav]

I've cracked it and will gladly give over the translation for 600 ducats.

Dreams are better as dreams than reality.