I probably wasn't clear with my original post because both reasons produce random numbers...
Reason 1 is just a bunch made up numbers. While making them up, the creator added cipher numbers from the Cipher 2 KEY/DOI to create 4 sets of alphabetical strings. IOW, and uncrackable hoax.
Reason 2 applied multiple layers encryption to produce random cipher numbers. The first layer being a substitution book cipher. The second layer could be another book cipher, a Caesar cipher, a vigenere or Gronsfeld cipher. IOW, a well designed uncrackable real cipher.
When i proposed an alternate method the AI could not "reason" whether the alternate was a viable encryption method...only that it couldn’t find a source indicating it's a viable solution.
It is important to note that both of these reasons are from the perspective of cryptologist; however, when you look from the perspective of Thomas Beale, both reasons could be wrong.
Thomas Beale wanted to protect the treasure using ciphers and keys. Keeping them separated for 10 indicates TB wants them to come together and would want Robert Morriss to have no trouble decoding the ciphers when the key arrives from St. Louis. The substitution cipher created for Cipher 2 using the Declaration of Independence is very easy and simple to use.
A cryptologists on the other hand would look to more advanced 1820 multilayer methods; however, I contend that TB wouldn’t have consider any of them because they require additional keys and decoding passes which would only make Robert Morriss’s job harder.
Instead, Thomas Beale would have looked for ways to make a substitution book cipher harder to crack without using keys and multilayer encryption. He would have certainly used the same methods found for Cipher 2:
1. Using multiple numbers for the same letter to prevent frequency analysis
2. Skipping words while numbering to
obscure various letters in the message
Since the treasure location identified in Cipher 1 is more important, TB may have also used a Caesar cipher which scrambles the letters of the Cipher 1 message before converting them to cipher numbers using the substitution cipher.
There is one other method TB may have used: The alphabetical strings.
As outlined in Reason 1, cryptologists attribute the four alphabetical strings found in Cipher 1 to someone getting bored making up random ciphers numbers so they add cipher numbers from Cipher 2 to add the strings among the fabricated cipher 1 numbers. This makes a lot of sense.
Now, let’s look at the strings from the TB perspective. TB wants to be able to use a substitution cipher key so Robert Morriss can decode the ciphers easily, locate the treasure and distribute it to the heirs. The alphabetical strings are a way to add more security while still using the substitution key.
Here is how…
If someone found the same document that TB used to create Cipher 1, then that person would be able to decode the message and locate the treasure. By adding cipher numbers from Cipher 2, the portions of the decoded message where the strings are located would contain gibberish thus
obscuring that person from reading to the entire message and reveal the location of the treasure.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying the cryptologists are wrong, I’m just offering a counter argument worth considering.
