Hi Chris,
VJ > My research techniques - applied to the Hebrew text of the Old
Testament and the Greek text of the New - have followed an identical
path (to that of SETI);
Chris > No, they haven't. There is no "signal" processing. You are doing
what, if it were done to the signals from space, would find "intelligent
life" everywhere. You are simply finding the kinds of coincidences that
occur all the time but which usually go unnoticed. Martin Gardner used
once in while write a column in Scientific American magazine in which he
would do this sort of thing. It's a meaningless parlor game because it
does not distinguish meaningful signal from the zillions of coincidences
that occur in almost any large text. I've already, in a post about a
year ago, demonstrated how easy this sort of thing is to do (and I'm not
even a mathematician, and I only spent about half-an-hour on it).
By jiggering the filtering methods, you can find damn near anything you
want in damn near anything. It's a kind of statistical Rorschach test,
in which the searcher is able to "see" whatever he wants to see. You
could even easily find *denials* of the Bible within the Bible by the
same general method (if you don't believe me, find some atheist whose
willing to put in some time on it). It really does not matter much
whether the text you analyze in this way *is* even text in the usual
sense. You could build a file of letters, characters, punctuation marks,
and the like, all selected randomly, and then you could find all sorts
of wonderful "messages" in it.
VJ's response: It is disappointing that you appear unable to grasp the
fact that certain numbers have particular properties that lend
themselves to 'intelligence-revealing' projects of the kind we are
discussing. I have already drawn attention to a class of numbers that
display symmetrical forms when represented, typically, as collections of
uniform circular counters. A study of these 'figurate' numbers reveals
37 to be particularly remarkable in that it may be represented in three
distinct ways - these involving a total of 16 axes of symmetry. In this
respect, it is unique among the numbers. Thus, to find that Gn.1:1 is
saturated with multiples of 37 is hardly an insignificant starting
point!
With respect to your comment re 'signal processing', I have always
understood this to include the mental activities involved in decoding
the impulses received via the senses; these would surely include
reading, and an assessment of the information contained in the Bible's
opening words!
VJ > clearly, they (my methods) have the same validty as those of SETI,
wouldn't you agree?
Chris > No; because searching for a meaningful signal in a radio signal
is based on the *distinction* between "noise" and meaningful signals.
But we already *know* that the Bible is meaningful signal.
VJ's response: I agree that "we already know the Bible is meaningful
signal". However, in my view, it is one that suffers from improper
processing. Clearly, the second signal is intended to put that right!
VJ > May I suggest you look at 'The Creation Geometries' on my first
website. Clearly, to demonstrate that such structures do not exist in
the first sentence of other major writings would be the work of a
lifetime - and more! In my view, it is sufficient that they are found to
occur in the opening words of Bible - and in circumstances that demand a
supernatural explanation.
Chris > Sorry, no. The *exact* structures you have found, or claim to
have found, might not exist in some other books, but then you could find
*another* set of geometric structures, or even the same structures but
based on different aspects of the text.
Further, if you are unwilling to put your method to such a test, why
should anyone take it seriously at all? Further still, there are dozens,
if not hundreds or thousands of such claims about a vast variety of
texts, many of them *conflicting* with yours. Which ones are to be taken
as true when they are all "justified" by the same methodology?
VJ's response: The numeric structures one might find in the opening
words of other books will depend upon the choice of method for
converting words to numbers. Comparatively few peoples beside the Greeks
and Jews have used all the letters of their alphabets as numerals; it
therefore follows that the attempted extraction of numbers from other
texts must depend on the whim of the investigator - hardly a
confidence-building exercise!
billwald > Does your theory have predictive value that can be tested?
VJ > Not in the generally accepted sense.
Chris > Nor in any other sense.
VJ's response: In respect of predictive value, if my theory is correct -
and I have no reason to doubt that it is - then there are certain
implications which are clearly set out in the biblical text (eg
Mt.25:32).
Finally, Chris, concerning your lengthy posting of Sat, 23 Sep: surely,
you too are numbered among the 'faithful' in respect, for example, of
your belief that, (1) the speed of light is constant - and always has
been what we find it to be today? and, (2) the assumptions upon which
current radiometric dating methods are based are on a par with
self-evident truths?
Regards,
Vernon
Vernon Jenkins MSc
[musician, mining engineer, and formerly Senior Lecturer in Maths and
Computing, the Polytechnic of Wales (now the University of Glamorgan)]
http://homepage.virgin.net/vernon.jenkins/index.htm
http://www.compulink.co.uk/~indexer/miracla1.htm
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 18:21:20 EDT