Dror Bar-Natan: Bible Codes:

An extract from "On the Witztum-Rips-Rosenberg Sample of Nations"

By Dror Bar-Natan, Brendan McKay, and Shlomo Sternebrg

6.1. A Personal note by the first author

I wish to express special thanks to Prof. David Kazhdan of Harvard University for his insistence (in public and in person) that the WRR claims on codes in the Book of Genesis deserve serious study, whatever the conclusions may be.

Much as I thank David for introducing me to this subject, and much as I learned from (but not enjoyed!) working on it, it is time for me to move on (and back) to other things, or else the harm already done to my career will grow fatal and my kids will go hungry. So except for some commitments I have already made (the most important of which is moral support to Brendan), I quit from this subject. This paper is sure to get a response from WRR, and I (and my co-authors) may get personally attacked. My future lack of response should not be interpreted as my inability to respond, but rather as my concern for my family.

I first approached the results of WRR with a great deal of scientific (and personal) curiosity. The results of [WRR1], and even more so, of [WRR2, WRR3], seemed very solid, and, if true, they would have been one of the most significant human discoveries ever. As the findings reported here have unfolded, my curiosity turned into anger, and over the 5-6 months that we spent writing this paper, my anger got replaced by fond memories of the good old times before all of that, when I was studying honest mathematics. It is a good time to quit.

 

We Have Better Things To Do Than Codes
Picture Credits: NCADI and Brendan McKay.