$1,000,000 offer relating to flaky pieces of ash

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lavengro
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$1,000,000 offer relating to flaky pieces of ash

Postby lavengro » Wed Mar 22, 2023 7:24 pm

Exicting opportunity that might be of interest to members of this forum: a prize offer of $1,000,000 dollars (US dollars, so about a gazillion Canadian dollars, though I am not sure that amount is right, I am not good at math). The Vesuvius Challenge: decipher four twitter sized extracts from the recovered fused Herculaneum papyrus scroll fragments of writing, which is now essentially invisible other than via machine learning and artificial (yet undoubtedly malevolent) intelligence.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/vesusius-scroll-decipher-challenge-1.6785894

My guess: the text contains an ancient warning to mankind to avoid overly-relying on machines (the wheel is okay, and use of levers okay-ish, but that is just about it). Assuming I am right (which is what I spend most of my days doing), how ironic it will be to have The Machines be the only ones able to translate, yet clearly undermotivated to do so.
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Re: $1,000,000 offer relating to flaky pieces of ash

Postby Le Baron » Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:57 pm

They'll probably turn out to be boring accounting records Most old documents are accounting records. As I was typing I said that in a monotone accountant's voice.
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Re: $1,000,000 offer relating to flaky pieces of ash

Postby Sae » Thu Mar 23, 2023 11:17 pm

Le Baron wrote:They'll probably turn out to be boring accounting records Most old documents are accounting records. As I was typing I said that in a monotone accountant's voice.


Maybe this particular accountant was expressing their desire for a career change and becoming a lion tamer.
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Re: $1,000,000 offer relating to flaky pieces of ash

Postby CaroleR » Fri Mar 24, 2023 1:37 am

Le Baron wrote:They'll probably turn out to be boring accounting records Most old documents are accounting records. As I was typing I said that in a monotone accountant's voice.
Or " … holy relics from the life of the great saint himself, including the blessed blueprint, the sacred shopping list … In a terrifying age of darkness and decay, these artifacts could be the keys to mankind's salvation." – A Canticle for Leibowitz
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Re: $1,000,000 offer relating to flaky pieces of ash

Postby badger » Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:55 pm

how do they know if you've deciphered it correctly?
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Re: $1,000,000 offer relating to flaky pieces of ash

Postby tungemål » Fri Mar 24, 2023 9:54 pm

I'm fairly certain that they must be flashcards, written on papyrus flakes... A Latin speaker learning Ancient Greek, in order to read Plato in the original - but in that time it would probably have been called just "Greek", or "Contemporary Greek". I'm going to guess that he/she used the Leitner system, storing flashcards in 5 different Roman urns. And also discussing language learning on the Forum.
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