DR Apr.-10

To be a glyph-breaker is to chase an almost impossible dream — to decipher scripts that no one else has cracked. It’s a title traditionally reserved for greats like Champollion, who unlocked Egyptian hieroglyphs, or Ventris, who deciphered Linear B. The author, however, hasn’t made such a breakthrough. Yet, for over two decades, he has chased these indecipherable scripts, driven by relentless curiosity, not fame.

His journey began in 1999 at the University of Pisa with Linear A, an undeciphered Bronze Age script from Crete. Despite studying everything written about it and even trying his own hand at cracking it, success evaded him. Unlike Linear B, which recorded early Greek, Linear A transcribed a language we don’t even understand — the so-called “Minoan.” But he didn’t give up. With research teams first in Singapore and now in China, he turned to computational cryptanalysis. While he doubts that technology alone can decipher a script, it can assist the human mind by reducing effort and offering new possibilities. His team even built a machine to run exhaustive cryptanalytic attacks on Linear A signs.

In 2016, he took on another challenge — the Singapore Stone, a weathered inscription with symbols found nowhere else. Lacking context or a bilingual reference, the odds of deciphering it are extremely low. Instead of direct interpretation, his team developed a tool called Read-y Grammarian, a predictive program that attempts to fill in the missing parts. It doesn’t solve the mystery, but it helps scholars better understand the structure and nature of the text.

Over time, the author found himself less a decipherer and more a developer of tools — working on writing systems considered undecipherable. His motivation has always been the same: a desire to give voice to ancient civilizations who left behind silent records. But it’s a lonely path. Language deciphering isn’t formally taught or recognised as a distinct academic field. It sits at the crossroads of linguistics, cryptology, philology, and computer science, but belongs fully to none.

Academic life hasn’t always been kind. He was once introduced at a university event as “the guy who works on weird stuff even he doesn’t understand.” Others in his field have faced worse — professional isolation and lack of recognition. And yet, when someone does succeed in cracking a script, the media and institutions scramble to claim a piece of the glory, only to lose interest a few days later.

Most ancient scripts that could be deciphered already have been. The few remaining — like the Indus script or the Voynich Manuscript — are either too fragmented or lack reference points needed for decoding. Many who attempt decipherment chase fantasies of ancient wisdom or global cures, but the real glyph-breaker works silently for years, gathering data, failing repeatedly, and starting over — knowing all too well that they may never succeed.

To be a glyph-breaker, then, is to accept failure, pursue knowledge for its own sake, and remain hopeful against the odds — all in the service of uncovering voices long lost to time. 

For daily such 4 articles in 1 PDF from diverse sources(AEON essays , The Guardian , New York Times , Philosopher Now etc.) along with conclusion, paragraph wise main idea, words to note and guidance and doubt solving from 99 percentilers in CAT join Articles Daily + only @ ₹55 for 1 month .

DM to get your subscription today - @astiflingsoul