VMs: Re: DIE WELTWOCHE

[Dennis <tsalagi@xxxxxxxx>]

> 1. Do people out there think a solution is imminent? Where will it come
> from?

	I don't think so, but it's completely impossible to
know.

> 2. How do people one get hooked on the Voynich? I saw some notions
> of terrible addiction.

	Typically, people interested in the VMs usually:

a)  have lived and worked in several countries or even
continents,

b) know at least more than one foreign language, and
often several, and

c) usually know some computer science and mathematical
statistics.  

It's not a terrible addiction; it's just that it's a
hobby for everyone and 
we wish we could devote more time to it.  

> 3. The list seems to be in a lull; does that mean people are frustrated? 

	Many are frustrated because they have reached a dead
end (like me), 
others simply don't currently have the time to do
anything on the VMs.

> 4. How serious is the research that has been done lately?  

	Because the VMs requires an interdisciplinary
approach, academics
may not call our work "serious" -- it doesn't fit into
a nice pigeonhole.  
We have had some excellent work on the historical
background of the VMs, 
Dana Scott's work on the plants' identity, and plenty
of statistical work
that an academic would rate as "serious".  

	The only PhD thesis that I know of on the VMs is that
of Antoine Casanova.
To read it is on my list of things to do.  The only
books in English currently 
in print are D'Imperio (a fundamental sourcebook for
the VMs) and Levitov 
(an extreme piece of crankery).   

> 5. Are there people out there who still think the ms. is a hoax?

	Yes, although I'm not one of them.

> 5. Some people seem to lean toward the idea that its language is a
> monosyllabic East-Asian language such as Chinese or Vietnamese; what
> are the arguments and counter-arguments?

	My own opinion is that either the VMs is in such a
monosyllabic language, or 
(more likely) it's in an artificial language, such as
those of Wilkins or Dalgarno.

> 6. Does the Voynich-community ever meet in the real world, or is this solely
> an Internet-community? How many people are involved in the deciphering
> on a regular basis? Are you friends?  

	Occasional meetings in the physical world have
happened, but, as 
I noted above, list members are scattered all over the
planet, which makes
physical meetings a chance thing.  I believe that Karl
Kluge and Bruce Grant
live near each other.  I myself have had an in-person
meeting with one other 
list member and several phone conversations with
another.  

	I feel that I am friends with several list members. 
The tone of 
discussion on the list is very civil indeed, to an
extent very 
rare on the Internet.  

Thanks for your interest,
Dennis Stallings