Thursday, November 13, 2008
i read library of babel
it was mind boggling. every single time i think about it i realize about the vastness of the necessary volumes of books needed to be a complete set. it is unreal. not quite infinity, but unreal. for example. moby dick exists (that combination of letters clearly exists by chance) and it exists only once...but so does every possible error. so in another part of the library, there exists a perfect copy of moby dick save one misplaced comma. there also exists another perfect copy with that misplaced comma one space to the right. and another one space to its right. and so on. there also exists a copy with one misplaced letter A. and so on. UNREAL. i cant even comprehend.
i would go insane. knowing that you could find every true fact and the very story of your life...but also find every work of fiction, every lie and thousands of false stories of YOUR life. you could read for eternity and not believe one single fact because chances are, its false. i would go insane. i would go insane.
why is a stupid story about a library universe so unfathomable for me? why is it so enthralling?
infinity.
borges has a lot more short stories about infinity and such. ill read em sometime.
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Sounds like one of those things that would just make your mind wrap around itself and bite itself on its tail. If a mind has a tail? Would it? Infinity makes me crazy...once I start thinking about it, I can't stop, but cannot imagine it. I bet the Library of Babel would make me crazy....................
ReplyDeleteplisti
It's unreal. The whole thing. SO unreal. And unfathomable. And mind boggling. It boggles me mind. Not infinity, but close enough that no human could possibly comprehend it. It makes me insane just thinking about it.
ReplyDelete<3 portmet.
when i came into town they met me at the port. i was portmet.