Re: VMs: Can one "prove" a hoax? - and a request.

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Gabriel Landini <G.Landini@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> How can one get hints that the text may not be truly
> readable?
> I tend to agree that it may be impossible to do so,
> but I am open to suggestions.

Hi!

No answer here, I'm afraid, but only some related
thoughts:

The idea that the VMs could be a hoax - and its
contents meaningless - only arose because nobody
found himself capable of deciphering it.

Even though that is not the right (i.e. the only
possible) conclusion, it is not unreasonable.
And for one who would like to see that the VMs
can be turned into a meaningful text, it is
worrying.

At the same time, we have found (to the best
of my knowledge) not the merest piece of evidence
that the MS is a hoax. All possible signs of
randomness are lacking. All curves that have
been created to show some property of the text
(word lengths, entropies, zipf law, character
counts, what have you) show a reasonable shape.
Not a flat curve in sight. 

So yes, there could have been some straightforward
ways to detect that the MS is a hoax, but just like
all attempts to decipher the MS (or identify its
language or its encryption method) they have
all failed. Or failed so far...

Cheers, Rene

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