Is the Book of Mormon Homogeneous?

[Glenn101]

A crude version of it was featured in his pre-pub of that paper;

and he later offered us a more refined version here at this

message board. If he has decided to drop the chart, that will

be helpful to his hopes of getting the thing published.

A different, more mathematical paper, is scheduled for publication

during the first half of 2011 in a Stats Journal; but I had not

heard that the LLC reviewers had accepted the initial anti-Jockers

study paper.

UD

The last I heard, the last hurdle for the publication of Bruce's critique has been passed when he finally got feedback from a reviewer who suggested some changes to the original draft. According to Bruce, he has made those changes and submitted the final paper to the LLC magazine. That is all I know.

Glenn

[noel00]

"using PCA is not really a good choice for this sort of problem ...... With PCA one only sees the results of a subset of the features (i.e. the 1st and 2nd PC) whereas the high-demensional classification algorithms consider all of the features"

[Uncle Dale]

"using PCA is not really a good choice for this sort of problem ......

With PCA one only sees the results of a subset of the features

(i.e. the 1st and 2nd PC) whereas the high-demensional classification

algorithms consider all of the features"

That is precisely true. The pca chart, in this instance, can only

serve as a rough indication of how some texts happen to cluster

together, based upon a small "subset of the features" measured.

That "rough indication" may prove valuable, in providing clues about

SOME of those texts' inter-relationships, but NOT ALL of

them. It may be a starting point, for additional investigations,

but it is not the ending point, that tells us our work is finished.

Even so, I am very happy that Bruce brought up this subject, and

provided his examples --- because that served as a challenge for

us to look more deeply into the configurations of his chart.

Especially I have looked at the clustering evident INSIDE of the

Book of Mormon "cloud," in both the pc1/pc2 depiction and the

pc2/pc3 depiction. The spatial relationships between a sub-set

of the Book of Mormon chapters appear to confirm the findings of

the Stanford researchers, myself, Ted Chandler and Vernal Holley.

If BoM chapters we all have previously identified as bearing a

close resemblance to Spalding's writings DO cluster together

INSIDE of the BoM "cloud," then our task is to determine why

those same chapters DO NOT cluster with Spalding's known writings,

depicted on the same chart.

Although we have not yet determined that reason, we can look at

the pc2/pc3 chart to see a situation in which Spalding texts and

Spalding-attributed Book of Mormon chapters DO overlap in their

respective groupings.

The issue before us is thus obviously a complex one, and a single

glance at a single pc1/pc2 chart does not prove the impossibility

that one of more 19th century writers contributed to the BoM text.

If Bruce carries on an assertion that he has discovered proof of

such an impossibility, his assertion will be negated by scholars

and scientists far more proficient in these matters than am I.

Uncle Dale

[rockslider]

You have had your fun, and made a useful contribution

to on-line resources, but you can now retire in peace."

UD,

What an incredible man you are. May God give you peace in this pursuit.

[Glenn101]

If Bruce carries on an assertion that he has discovered proof of

such an impossibility, his assertion will be negated by scholars

and scientists far more proficient in these matters than am I.

Uncle Dale

Bruce is not relying on his pca chart. His main topic is the NCC methods. His work is under peer review so we shall see how accurate your prognostications are.

Glenn

[4truth]

UD:

Especially I have looked at the clustering evident INSIDE of the

Book of Mormon "cloud," in both the pc1/pc2 depiction and the

pc2/pc3 depiction. The spatial relationships between a sub-set

of the Book of Mormon chapters appear to confirm the findings of

the Stanford researchers, myself, Ted Chandler and Vernal Holley.

So while the conversation has lulled a bit... at this point in time, what do you see as the most Spaldingish BOM chapters? Alma 46-53?

[Uncle Dale]

UD:

So while the conversation has lulled a bit... at this point in time, what do you see as the most Spaldingish BOM chapters? Alma 46-53?

The "Record of Helaman," in the latter part of Alma, matches

with Spalding's fiction in several ways -- if we include in

that sequence the last 2 chapters of the previous "record."

Roughly, that means Alma 43-44 (skip 45 as an insertion) and then

Alma 46-53 --- with a few more intermittent sections after that.

The "match" with Spalding is, first of all:

1. Genre (even Bruce and Ben agree on this vague descriptor)

2. Theme (if compared to the Oberlin MS chapters on religion and war)

3. Events (especially Alma 43, but other parts of the Rec. of Helman also)

4. Character name construction (not the precise names, but their formation)

5. Technology (the level of social and military advancement)

6. Social Fragmentation (two opposing factions, but they are also "brethren")

7. Timespan (roughly overlapping in the PreColumbian era)

8. Geography (if Meldrum is correct, then overlapping in the Great Lakes area)

9. Absurdities (rapid troop movements in a wilderness, etc.)

Besides these general "matches" there are also some specific ones

10. Vocabulary (Rec. of Helaman words greatly overlap Oberlin MS words)

11. Phraseology (Rec. of Helman word-strings greatly overlap Oberlin MS)

12. NSC/Delta (classifications show high Spalding authorship probability)

13. PCA Chart 1 distribution (Rec. of Helaman chapters "cluster" in pc1/pc2)

14. PCA Chart 2 distribution (Rec. of Helman clusters with Spalding in pc2/pc3)

15. Chapter Tree (Rec. of Helaman chapters cluster in vocabulary similarity)

Although there are other sections of the Book of Mormon which are reminiscent

of Spalding's writing style/contents, none of those sections have the same

contiguity, continuity, length, or consistent NSC/Delta "Spalding" attributions.

If any Mormon can point out another long section of the BoM that MORE resembles

Spalding's writings, in the ways I have listed, I will send him a $500 check.

As we read 2nd Nephi we notice a block of several chapters which remind us

very much of the Bible. Luckily we have access to the KJV, to tell us which

biblical sections were incorporated into the Book of Mormon -- and to tell

us which BoM sections successfully emulate those biblical sections verbiage.

As we read the latter part of Alma we notice a block of several chapters which

remind us of Solomon Spalding's writing. At least they remind me of that.

Bruce has stated that all parts of the Book of Mormon are totally different

from Spalding, stylistically speaking. If he is correct, then anything you

or I might point out regarding the Record of Helman can only resemble the

Spalding writings by pure coincidence -- magnified by our imaginations.

More Jockers' Spalding/BoM research reporting is "on the horizon" at LLC -- (in 2012?)

UD