Mario Cordina
Ignorance
In the depths of an abandoned music school library, one person found an unsigned and untitled antique music score. The score is reborn as a musical piece named after it’s finder, Michał Habdank-Wojnicz, a tamed revolutionary turned antiquarian. If this were not ironic enough, the Voynich Manuscript has not only been written by an unknown entity but it also contains a score that no musician can play. Picture Voynich, an educated man, conversant in 18 languages, a lover of books, peering through sheets of botanical illustrations and text that he could not read. He paces around his shop in Soho and asks himself ‘What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape’?
Now a prize trophy at Yale, ‘Thou foster-child of silence,’ is exhibited as an object of intrinsic value yet it also stands as a stark reminder of our ignorance. The 2 to 8 scribes that experts believed wrote and illustrated the vellum sheets around 600 years ago, have humbled the greatest thinkers of our time.
‘Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!’
(Keats)
Similarly to Keats’ fascination with the unknown story of a Grecian Urn, The Antikythera mechanism, possibly a 205 BCE analogue machine for modeling and predicting astronomical and calendrical patterns, leaves historians dumbfounded. ‘We know what it did, but we don’t know exactly why they wanted it to do that, what it was used for, and the context in which it was used’ (Marchant). The list of such lost and found artifacts includes the Baghdad Battery which seemingly produced electricity around 226 BCE or the cart ruts in Malta whose purpose remains a mystery. Spoons appeared on European tables around the 16th century but 3000 BCE Egyptian spoons have been unearthed.
The scientists of today would have us believe that ‘Real science is a revision in progress, always. It proceeds in fits and starts of ignorance.’ (Firestein). The use of the term ‘always’ is problematic. When libraries like those of Pisistratus in Athens, the Temple Of Ptah in Memphis, Pergamon’s 200,000 volumes, Carthage and Alexandria were destroyed there was nothing left to revise.
Knowledge was lost. Efforts to rediscover Roman and Greek engineering are still incomplete. History is a futile assembly of a jigsaw puzzle of knowledge that man decided was redundant and irrelevant at certain points in time. ‘Historians study the past not in order to repeat it, but in order to be liberated from it.’ (Harari, 59). Yet the liberation we seek is not one of forsaking the fruit of knowledge harvested by those that came before us. Worryingly, Savonarola’s bonfires of vanities did not start nor end with the dark ages.
‘In the make-up of human beings, intelligence counts for more than our hands, and that is our true strength.’
(Ovid, Metamorphoses)
Firestein states that ignorance ‘is the true engine of science’ and economics. On a positive note it is our ignorance of science, our environment, our human self and the cosmos that sparked unrestricted and irrelevant experiment, conjuring theory, stimulation and Ovidian progress. Keywords for businesses involve innovation and optimisation as they seek to advance up the ‘S’ curve. Efficiency is achieved through standardisation and elimination of other complex issues. The downside is that directed and approved experiment leads to accepted and unchallenged proof, resistance to theory, stagnation and regress. The setup of a false dichotomy does not only mean a step back, but a loss of knowledge, most of which may prove irretreviable, as is the case with the Voynich Manuscript. It is one thing to be ignorant of unknown matter in the cosmos, but ignorance of matter that we have unthinkingly dumped, destroyed and forgotten is another.
Relevance And Redundancy
‘For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.’
(T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets)
Christian Palestinian Aramaic language, now a defunct dialect were rediscovered when scripts kept at St Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt were discovered to have multiple texts written on top of each other. This literature stemmed from a large community of people with their own art and spirituality. Early Manuscripts Electronic Library director, Michael Phelps, admits that ‘Almost all of that has been lost, yet their cultural DNA exists in our culture today.’ (Katz.)
Languages have been and continue to be lost as the number of native speakers of a given language die out. Globalisation has globalised languages by assimilating and integrating alien borrowed words into native languages in a bid to be globally relevant. Although English and American native speakers are outnumbered by the native speakers of Chinese and Indian languages, most people choose the former languages as a lingua franca to communicate. If the Voynich Manuscript was written in an existing language at the time of writing, then that language has been lost with its entanglement of metaphors, idiomatics, culture, history and society. Even if someone will ever manage to read and therefore relearn the language, the entangled components of that language can never be retrieved. The Voynich Manuscript is therefore an example of and a warning that no language should be made redundant or irrelevant. Technology should be applied to saving languages that are naturally dying out. A language dying a natural death is questionable, because in our contemporary world, languages only die out when native speakers opt to use a foreign language instead of their own. Languages do not go extinct, but they may become defunct or obsolete. It is not a matter of evolution, but a matter of dumping baggage that we have decided not to carry.
Relevance is problematic on many counts as it obliterates the culture, expression and knowledge incorporated in a particular language. The political and economical markers used to determine relevant knowledge for today’s society do not reflect relevance in future and historic worlds. As the global economy ploughs through one ‘S’ curve to the next, it eliminates any redundant and irrelevant skill, craft and knowledge that may hamper current market trends. Current trends do not reflect past or future trends, because they are current. The implication therefore is that current contexts are in no position to decide upon redundancy or irrelevance because trends are temporary, dictatorial and restrictive in the longer span of human strife.
Voynich’s character as an antiquarian is radically a non 2020 scientific, economic, political trend. Venture capitalists would not invest in such a business, Google would be more interested in digitalising such a book whilst auctioners would be more interested in its fetching price than its text. In other words Christie’s might opt to present Leonardo da Vinci’s, Salvator Mundi, (which sold for $450.3 million in 2017), rather than settle for a book or manuscript that might sell for less. Today’s concept of an antiquariat has become a source of financial gain and not of knowledge. This is comparable to the Dark Ages when one would value a basket of eggs higher than an old book. An art collector treats his collection as an investment, choosing art that is a collector’s item like an oenophiliac waiting for the wine to mature in price. Both Napoleon and Hitler were avid collectors of art and valuables. Their work may be appreciated by a visit to the Louvre and the Berlin Museums. Their purpose was a show of power and supremacy, whereas today they serve as a great source of income through ticket sales and exhibitions. The temple of knowledge has been turned into a money making machine, which in turn has restricted access to those who cannot afford it. The temple of knowledge has also restricted the relevance of artifacts that come from different eras and locations by relocating them into modern day Paris and Berlin.
Sacrifice of Knowledge
‘History isn’t a single narrative, but thousands of alternative narratives.
Whenever we choose to tell one, we are also choosing to silence others.’
(Harari, 176).
Most experts believe that the manuscript was written in code. In Mesapotamia the first forms of writing were used to record information about goods and transactions. (Schmandt-Besserat). Papyrus scrolls and paper made for easier and wider transit and storage of information. This created problems for those who for some reason or other wanted to hide information from one party but share it with others. Code is a type of data protection. Cryptography has been recorded by Herodotus with messages tattooed on a messenger’s shaved head and letting the hair grow back. Sparta’s military used the scytale transposition to communicate with their troops, Julius Ceaser used the Ceaser Cipher for his generals, the Kamasutra of Vātsyāyana records two different kinds of ciphers called Kautiliyam and Mulavediya whilst Ibn al-Nadim recounts the fact that in Sassanid Persia the King’s Script, the šāh-dabīrīya was used for official domestic correspondence and the rāz-saharīya was used for sensitive communication with other kingdoms. (Kahn). So as mathematics, algorithms and computer technology have joined the linguistic and lexographic entry into the Voynich cryptography hunt, the need to hide data seems to be more important than before. Getting access to data on the internet means using a password. A password needs to be protected, often paid for. Data protection is synonymous with privacy, crime protection and the economy. The global economy has changed from ‘a material based economy into a knowledge based economy.’ (Harari, 14). Paying for knowledge means that knowledge is restricted to those with financial backup. Once again current relevance and restrictions are contributing to data loss.
If the Voynich Manuscript was willfully written in code, the motives that drove the author to cipher the work 600 years ago, are the same motives that drive modern day cryptography. The privacy factor would imply that the information was too sensitive for the author to share with anyone who came upon the book. If the manuscript deals with menstruation, it might have been considered as too private or sensitive for the layman society of the time. The protection factor would imply that the information was too compromising for the author’s safety at the time of writing. The Dark ages were riddled with persecution and torture, especially if the manuscript is about alchemy or magic as some experts believe. The economical factor would imply that the information was more profitable if kept secret and made available to a few. Whatever the reason, the content of the Voynich Manuscript remains a mystery because cryptography stems from censorship whether it is self or state induced. This veiling of information for the purpose of data protection, privacy and economical gain amounts to censorship. It is a censorship that impinges on freedom and right to knowledge in ways that are parallel to the historic censorships imposed by various religions, cultures and governments in mankind’s history and present. Censorship and cryptography make information redundant and irrelevant with the only end result being a sacrifice of knowledge.
'Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,'
(John Keats Ode To A Grecian Urn)
As one ponders upon the Voynich figures of naked ladies bathing in a green pool, the ciphered manuscript text hauntingly betrays a sacrifice of knowledge. Censorship in Philosophy centers around Consequentialist moral theorists like Bentham argue that right actions are those that produce good consequences ensuring Epicurean happiness for the greater majority. This is the utilitarian approach which justifies both the author of the Voynich Manuscript and arguments for modern day Data Protection and Privacy, economical gain and defence strategy. However, Deontological theories, as championed by the likes of Kant and W. D. Ross state that right actions depend ‘upon factors other than the consequences of action.’ (Ward). The Voynich Manuscript seems to tell us that happiness for a greater majority is a temporary happiness for a temporary majority and that there are many other factors to consider when applying censorship, especially when restricting knowledge relevant to a future majority. World and Business leaders need to see beyond current relevance and redundancy.
The Covid19 pandemic showed that saving business is more important than saving humanity. Politicians regard saving credibility and power as more important than justice. Governments argue that saving the status quo is more important than saving the environment. Businesses will restructure, relocate and change anything to protect property, material or information in complete disregard of saving knowledge for the whole of mankind. This is what lies behind the censored, coded manuscript.
The protection of intellectual rights is based on financial gain and not on the protection of the intellect. Financial and political gain is temporary. Temporary gain seems to be a negative factor and a negative consequence. In fact the author of the Voynich Manuscript sought temporary gain, probably to save a life or lives or intellectual protection but the atemporal consequence is a loss of knowledge for mankind and its future generations. The ethical debate between Kant’s ‘goodwill’ principle and Kamm’s ‘Principles of Permissible harm’ come at loggerheads, but in this case both theories unite in condemning censorship, because the manuscript’s code neither reflects goodwill nor Kamm’s principles whereby a life may be sacrificed for the posterity of mankind. Ezra Pound famously wrote that ‘This is no book. Whoever touches this touches a man.’ However the author of the manuscript remains untouched, whatever he or she stood for is lost.
'With me Died Adonais; till the Future dares
Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be
An echo and a light unto eternity!'
(Percy Bysshe Shelley Adonais)
Knowledge as a Hoax
Physicist Andreas Schinner, 2007 and 2019, published papers suggesting that the manuscript is but a hoax. Using a mathematical random walking technique his conclusions were that this was no lost language nor code. He strengthens his argument by stating that the provenance of the 15th century script is unknown. Lisa Fagin Davis agrees that today’s computing power has only helped to ‘debunk theories’ with regards to the manuscript. ‘World history is littered with tall tales and those who have fallen for them.’(Tattershall). The list of fakes and forgeries is never ending, from The Turin Shroud, Charles Ponzi schemes, to the Martain Panic in 1938 and the Roswell spaceship crash in 1947 (Bartholemew)
‘Count’ Victor Lustig was known by 47 aliases and became a billionaire by faking money, selling gadgets, cheating at cards and most famously pretending to be a French Official selling the Eiffel Tower to the highest bidder. Profit inspires hoaxes. The question is what profit was the Voyenich author seeking?
‘There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end, bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to write a book and the end of the world is evidently approaching.’ This citation comes from one of the most ancient scripts that mankind has saved, the tale of Gilgamesh from 2800BCE. The amount of prophetic literature concerning the apocalypse is disconcerting and includes great minds like Isaac Newton, Nostradamus and Martin Luther. It is obviously impossible to discern fact from twisted fact. When Galileo and Swammerdam used lenses to study the cosmos, the public was suspicious because lenses had often been used to trick audiences at 16th century fairs. Mimicking is used by female photuris fireflies to bait male fireflies for food, the cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds’ nests and less dominant chimpanzees woo females by faking dominance. Trickery is knowledge. It is a Macchiavellian tool employed by propaganda, politicians and competitors in all fields. Trickery is a double edged knife. Authorities also use it to dub inconvenient ideas as conspiracy theories, fake news or slander. In such a light the Voynich Manuscript presents us with the ultimate Houdini act.
A lost key to Knowledge
The attraction to the Voynich mystery is similar to an unsolved crime case, where experts are under pressure to find answers. This pressure has so far proven counterproductive. The forensic team on the Voyenich case, has included William Friedman’s team of NSA cryptographers who treated it as an algorithm in the 1950s, Joseph Martin Freely who concluded that it was a shorthand scientific diary written by Roger Bacon, Johannes Trithemius as stenatography, Robert Brumbaugh as a forgery and John Wilkins as a constructed language amongst others. Linguists have proposed languages that include Latin (D’Imperio), a proto-Romance language (Dr. Gerard Cheshire) of Asian origin (Jacques Guy) and Semitic, (Egyptologist Prof Dr Rainer Hannig). AI technology has joined the ranks to study ‘paleographic, forensic, and artistic evidence’ (Vincent).
A museum displaying pre-text human artifacts makes one muse upon an artifact, and read what the archaelogists believed that the artifact was used for. How is one to understand the knowledge of the human that created it? The display does not explain what was relevant for the community that its creator lived in. The environment and trends of a bygone era have disappeared. The difference is that the Voynich Manuscript comes from a post text era and yet it is as elusive. The truth is the that author of the Voynich Manuscript has got away with murder. The criminal has disappeared into thin air, not a whiff of a clue as to his name, motive or crime.
The key to knowledge follows irrelevant paths and experiment because current trends are temporary affairs that are liable to change. Every effort should be made to protect the atemporality of knowledge as a foundation stone for further knowledge. If any brick of knowledge is deemed unimportant and therefore taken out, it will leave a gaping hole of lost data, a hapax legomenon in a corpus of human endaevour. It might even result in the crumbling down of the whole edifice. History is a debate about the lack of records and information about lost cultures, technologies, languages and knowledge. The current trend to focus and invest in relevant data will result in an unretrievable loss of knowledge. Protecting the knowledge that we have amassed should become a priority contrary to what feasibility and statistical reports tell us.
Bibliography
Bartholomew, R. E., & Radford, B. (2003). Hoaxes, myths, and manias: Why we need critical thinking. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.
Firestein, Stuart. (2012). Ignorance how it drives science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harari, Noah Juval (2017) Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow. Harper Collins Publishers
Kahn, D. (1997) The codebreakers: The comprehensive history of secret communication from ancient times to the Internet. New York: Scribner's and Sons.
Katz, B. (2017, September 05). Lost Languages Discovered in One of the World's Oldest Continuously Run Libraries. Retrieved July 17, 2020, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/long-lost-languages-found-manuscripts-egyptian-monastery-180964698/
Marchant, J. (2010). Decoding the heavens: A 2,000-year-old-computer--and the century-long search to discover Its secrets. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
Schmandt-Besserat, D. (1992) Before Writing, Vol. 1. University of Texas Press.
Tattersall, I., & Névraumont, P. (2018). Hoax: A history of deception: 5,000 years of fakes, forgeries, and fallacies. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal.
Vincent, J. (2018, February 01). AI didn't decode the cryptic Voynich manuscript - it just added to the mystery. Retrieved July 29, 2020, from https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/1/16959454/voynich-manuscript-mystery-ai-decoded-debunked
Ward, D. (1991, January 01). Philosophical Issues in Censorship and Intellectual Freedom. Retrieved July 10, 2020, from https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/7716
More Information
The Short Family Tree Of The Counts of The Catena listed here, show a record of rev Joseph Strickland.
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