Voynich manuscript breakthrough as the 600-year-old document is partially decoded for the first time
41 replies, posted
[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73021000/jpg/_73021378_voynich1.jpg[/img]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-26198471[/url]
[quote]A breakthrough has been made in attempts to decipher a mysterious 600-year-old manuscript written in an unknown language, it has been claimed.
The Voynich Manuscript, carbon-dated to the 1400s, was rediscovered in 1912, but has defied codebreakers since.
Now, Bedfordshire University's Stephen Bax says he has deciphered 10 words, which could lead to more discoveries.
The manuscript, which some think is a hoax, is full of illustrations of plants and stars, as well as text.
It has been latched onto by supporters of a whole range of strange theories including some linking it to Leonardo da Vinci or even aliens.[/quote]
It's amazing that this book has still left people dumbfounded.
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;43979762]It's amazing that this book has still left people dumbfounded.[/QUOTE]
Cryptography is hard without a key. There's the story that the monument outside of the CIA's headquarters has an undeciphered code on it that the sculptor thought would be cracked nearly immediately. It's not just a problem of "finding the pattern" but finding a meaningful one that can be used again and again. If I say these three letters are cat, but they also spell dog somewhere else, I may not have really cracked it.
I really thought this was going to be the Badage Boys.
[QUOTE=Medevila;43979768]What did the 10 words say[/QUOTE]
'ur a faget'
It's a few individual words he's deciphered throughout the text. I can't seem to find all of them though.
[url]http://www.beds.ac.uk/news/2014/february/600-year-old-mystery-manuscript-decoded-by-university-of-bedfordshire-professor[/url]
[quote]Among the words he has identified is the term for Taurus, alongside a picture of seven stars which seem to be the Pleiades, and also the word KANTAIRON alongside a picture of the plant Centaury, a known mediaeval herb, as well as a number of other plants.[/quote]
[QUOTE=Medevila;43979768]What did the 10 words say[/QUOTE]
[quote]He said he had managed to find the word for Taurus, alongside a picture of seven stars (seen as part of the zodiac constellation of Taurus) and the word Kantairon alongside a picture of the herb Centaury.
[/quote]
[editline]19th February 2014[/editline]
oh....
You knew it was coming.
[img]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/voynich_manuscript.png[/img]
One thing that always blows my mind about Crytography is, how do you know if you're right?!
[QUOTE=Sgt-NiallR;43979841]One thing that always blows my mind about Crytography is, how do you know if you're right?![/QUOTE]
The pattern continuously produces correct results. As there's normally not enough encrypted material for that, you never really do.
[QUOTE=Stonecycle;43979828]You knew it was coming.
[img]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/voynich_manuscript.png[/img][/QUOTE]
xkcd applies to so goddamn much, all days
[QUOTE=The1Flame;43979971]The pattern continuously produces correct results. As there's normally not enough encrypted material for that, you never really do.[/QUOTE]
afaik once someone deciphers 3 letters the entire thing falls apart
[QUOTE=Code3Response;43980035]afaik once someone deciphers 3 letters the entire thing falls apart[/QUOTE]
Yeah, if it's a simple cipher. An invented language or something encrypted is way harder.
[QUOTE=Mesothere;43979786]I really thought this was going to be the Badage Boys.[/QUOTE]
I'm starting to miss them.
[QUOTE=Medevila;43979768]What did the 10 words say[/QUOTE]
It was just the word "Fart" written a couple of times because the author got bored.
[QUOTE=The1Flame;43979971]The pattern continuously produces correct results. As there's normally not enough encrypted material for that, you never really do.[/QUOTE]
Well yeah, but how do you know if you're getting correct results?
[QUOTE=Medevila;43979768]What did the 10 words say[/QUOTE]
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
it's funny, i was collecting all the pages of this on Black Flag recently...
I just hope the NSA didn't find the observatory, the bloody templars...
[QUOTE=Sgt-NiallR;43981194]Well yeah, but how do you know if you're getting correct results?[/QUOTE]
Well this is pretty easy actually. You know you're correct if what you're deciphering is making sense and/or can be reversed to encode things.
[QUOTE=smurfy;43979809]'ur a faget'
It's a few individual words he's deciphered throughout the text. I can't seem to find all of them though.
[url]http://www.beds.ac.uk/news/2014/february/600-year-old-mystery-manuscript-decoded-by-university-of-bedfordshire-professor[/url][/QUOTE]
So some sort of medical herbs book? Would explain all the plant drawings.
Oh wait the drawings aren't drawings of real plants?
Maybe it is just some sort of fiction book made by someone with too much time? A pokedex but for imaginary plants instead of imaginary animals?
Some time traveler is probably having a good laugh at this right now.
I've been interested into this thing for years. This is great, but he's still making a lot of assumption, however based on these assumptions he gets a lot of new stuff that seems so reasonable:
His presentation:
[video=youtube;fpZD_3D8_WQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpZD_3D8_WQ[/video]
His paper: [url]http://stephenbax.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Voynich-a-provisional-partial-decoding-BAX.pdf[/url]
[editline]20th February 2014[/editline]
And here's the manuscript: [url]https://archive.org/details/TheVoynichManuscript[/url]
I wonder if we can use his table to decipher some plants.
[QUOTE=Sgt-NiallR;43981194]Well yeah, but how do you know if you're getting correct results?[/QUOTE]
...what
The encrypted/cyphered text becomes actual words or meaningful data rather than random gibberish.
[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;43979785]Cryptography is hard without a key. There's the story that the monument outside of the CIA's headquarters has an undeciphered code on it that the sculptor thought would be cracked nearly immediately. It's not just a problem of "finding the pattern" but finding a meaningful one that can be used again and again. If I say these three letters are cat, but they also spell dog somewhere else, I may not have really cracked it.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptos[/url]
for anyone interested
the pages when it has the illustrations of human+plant combinations are rather strange
[QUOTE=MetalT0ast;43984505]the pages when it has the illustrations of human+plant combinations are rather strange[/QUOTE]
Medieval Rule 34.
[QUOTE=MrEndangered;43984910]Medieval Rule 34.[/QUOTE]
Ye olde monstre wench qvest.
[QUOTE=MetalT0ast;43984505]the pages when it has the illustrations of human+plant combinations are rather strange[/QUOTE]
it especially bugs me that those pages seem to have the most in depth descriptions, but of course we can't read any of it
[editline]20th February 2014[/editline]
i feel like it was just some guy making up his own fantasy universe, but going as far to make up tons of alien plants and your own language is pretty hardcore
[editline]20th February 2014[/editline]
i guess there wasn't much else to do in the 1400's
[QUOTE=Mesothere;43979786]I really thought this was going to be the Badage Boys.[/QUOTE]
Maybe the Voynich manuscript is actually just a really old version of the Badage Boys
if it makes anyone feel better there is a team of like 10 in the FBI that cracks written codes. They're the only team in the world dedicated to cracking codes. Lemme dig up some notes when I talked to them earlier last year.
Well of course it's a Ancient Remedy book which they coded it so anyone wouldn't find out their secrets (only herbalists who wrote it and their circle can read it at the time which they're now long dead) due to heavy prosecutions of herbalists as 'witchcraft' at the time.
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