Re: VMs: Criteria for a successful solution

[elvogt@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Zitat von "Dennis S." <tsalagi@xxxxxxxx>:

> Elmar wrote:
> 
> >(If the VM is only gibberish, it's obviously impossible to prove this fact,
> and 
> >there simply is no solution.)
> 
>    Yes.  However, if it is in fact gibberish, can we prove it?  The only way
> I can think of is to produce a valid solution.  Can anyone think of another?
> 
>    Perhaps this is a philosophical question.  In designing a scientific
> experiment, one assumes the null hypothesis, that an observed difference is
> due to chance, one specifies limits of confidence, and then one rejects the
> null hypothesis if the experimental results show a difference exceeding the
> limits of confidence.  Perhaps this is analogous.  
> 

Exactly my point:

Although it's possible to prove the non-existance of anything in a _logical_ 
manner ("something can't be big and small at the same time"), it's impossible 
to do the same in an empirical manner:

I might go around and show that 100 UFO sightings were false, and not a single 
one was true, but this doesn't prove there are no UFO's -- the 101st one might 
be for real.

Likewise, it's impossible to prove (in the strict sense) the Gibberish 
hypothesis: Even if you refuted 100 encoding schemes, the 101st one might still 
turn out to be the solution.

At the same time, it's possible to _show_ that the VM is gibberish. If eg 
Rugg's method can come up with a ciphertext which exhibits all the statistical 
phenomena of the VM etc., we may safely assume that this is the way it's been 
done.

Cheer,

   Elmar, philosopher's stone in a nutshell


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