Honestly, I was unable to fully comprehend what this essay was trying to say. It is obviously written with a point to get across and I believe what he was trying to communicate is that our universe is infinite but within that infinity there are cycles, there is an order to the chaos that happens within our world. At least, this is what I think his main point was or so it seemed he concluded with. I find it a very interesting concept and it is true. Although it seems like our world is progressively getting worse, it does go through cycles. Humanity goes through a cycle.
How many times has it seemed that the world was about to end and but gotten better? How many times has man invented and then reinvented tactics to go about life. It seems like every person no matter the environment they are raised in must relearn that which is necessary for life, and in the process going through a natural cycle. It seems as though generations must go through the same thing as we look back into history and shake our heads at how often we must learn the same lesson over and over again. We wage our wars and conquer each other, it seems to be an endless cycle.
I find it interesting that he first points out that what is made in the “libraries” must be the handiwork of a god. Even though this was written in the 40’s when science was not as advanced as it is now and theories were more speculation and attempts to put meaning behind something rather than a linking together of scientific “know-hows” trying to prove these theories. He was still able to see the inconceivable odds of creating something so complex out of nothing. Truly it is something that can not be understood by the human mind because it is beyond our comprehension. We are all in search for some kind of meaning to this life.
I was confused when he began to talk about how the library was complete, in that the library contained all the books that it needed. Meaning to say that everything done within the universe had a reason and any questions about the universe had answers? I suppose it gave people reason to believe that they could find answers to life and thus making their own beliefs. Prophesying about future events in hopes that such things could be possible because the library was full.
Overall I found it be very confusing. His extensive vocabulary didn’t help much with understanding what he was trying to say either. I made sense of what I could and overall I believe what he was trying to convey was that we live in an infinitely cyclical universe.
http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/library_of_babel.html
http://james.grimmelmann.net/files/Library.markdown
I agree with what you said about the world going in cycles. I did not think about how chaos itself had its own cycles as well.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get much of what he was saying but i agree with you on the fact that he was trying to show that the universe is infinite and that there are an infinite amount of ways to do all things.
ReplyDeletei agree that what he was trying to say was very unclear and his extensive vocabulary didnt help with his deeper meaning. our world does revolve in stages look at our history of chaos with hitler and stalin and so many more people trying to change the world, not really for the better but doing something regardless. the colony freaking out and questioning their higher powers and then they all commit suicide. its kind of like a cult and manipulation. it also look at it as a colony of bees in their home taking care of each other and such but then something goes wrong and every one kills each other or themselves. are we the same way? cortney hammerland
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