Re: VMs: Re: word length counts

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jeff,

At 09:04 09/07/2003 +0100, Jeff wrote:
> With my spinning wheel theory the glyphs could change due to a change of
> starting point, therefore mapping each character pair combination to a
> different grid in the matrix. The fixing position to restart from could be
> signified by those wierdo glyphs.

Broadly speaking, there are (IMO) three useful ways of looking at encrypted 
texts:-

(1) as a cryptographer - this asks the question "how could I construct a 
code that looks like the VMS, ie one that duplicates its properties?" Hoax 
theorists (as Gordon has demonstrated) can share this 
"forward-constructional" frame of mind - they might ask "if it's a hoax, 
how was the text generated, how can I duplicate that construction process?"

(2) as a cryptologist - this asks the question "what interesting features 
of the code can I determine from the stats, and can I reconstruct the 
code's internal mechanisms from those features?" Similarly, hoax theorists 
can take on this "backwards-reconstructional" frame of mind, by asking "if 
it's a hoax, what signs can I find that point me towards the way it was made?"

(3) as an historian - this asks the question "from the observable signs 
(cipherbet, structure, presentation, palaeography, layout, etc), what can I 
deduce about the author's socio-cultural milieu, location, status, 
intention, need, position? And from that (and my additional research), what 
internal properties of the code can I predict?" This is more a 
"postmodern-deconstructional" frame of mind.

Right now, you appear to be trying to do (1) by single-handedly 
recapitulating the history of cryptography 1400-1550, but without really 
getting to grips with the properties of the VMS: a valiant effort, but one 
which is unlikely to get a great deal of support on-list.

Perhaps it might be an idea to get hold of an accessible book on the 
history of cryptography (like David Kahn's classic "The Codebreakers", or 
Simon Singh's more recent "The Code Book") and see how (for example) 
Alberti, Trithemius and Vigenere did it, to put your own thoughts on 
cryptography into a historical context.

Basically: don't reinvent the (coding) wheel, read up on it first. :-)

FWIW, when a breakthrough comes for the VMS, I think it's likely to be from 
a combination of all three approaches, as any one of them would probably be 
insufficient... but people naturally have a bias towards one of the three 
paths... which is perhaps why this requires collaboration so acutely.

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling..... 


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