Table of Contents
Introduce the Library of Babel, its history and purpose
The Library of Babel is a copy of the world’s knowledge from every book, film and song ever produced. It contains all possible pages from all imaginable books. The library has an infinite number of hexagonal rooms – or shelves – in which texts are written. The shelves are arranged to create living rooms, libraries and laboratories. Each shelf is linked to every other shelf. The books on the library are chosen randomly and will never be repeated. From birth, all humans know about the Library. At birth, the first important instruction that the world’s mathematicians give to the newborns is “don’t touch.” As a result of this instruction and because everyone knows about it, many experiments have been carried out over many generations adding new knowledge and attempting to correct previous mistakes.[1]
The Library of Babel was created by the mathematicians at a particular point of crisis in human history. The people who lived at this time were aware that humanity was destroying itself and the planet with overpopulation, war and pollution. They decided that if the world’s knowledge could grow so exponentially, it was an error to limit this growth to one planet alone. The mathematicians created an infinite library on a set of stationary planets so an infinite number of humans could live there from now on, solving every problem of humanity once and for all.
Share some interesting facts about the library
a. The Library of Babel is not a physical book or place, but a set of knowledge to be accessed by anyone with the necessary mathematics and programing skills. The Library has a website that anyone can access. This article aims to cover some of the more interesting theories and information about the Library. (Note: The authors hope to update this article from time to time with new information.)
b. The Library was first mentioned in Jorge Luis Borges’ short story “The Library of Babel”, which was published in 1945. In that story, a library is a place or object that contains all of the possible books, paintings, or other things in existence. The library is situated in a place where every possible thing is present, from the smallest subatomic particles to the largest universe. The idea of a set of knowledge that can be accessed by anyone has existed in the cultural imagination for centuries. Examples include the legendary Library of Alexandria, inspired by the Great Library of Mesopotamia that was founded by King Tahir-Khusrau in 2353 BC.
c. Theories abound about what the Library of Babel is, what it means, and if it exists as described in Borges’ story (i.e., whether or not the library concept is a metaphor).
d. The most popular theory is that it represents an endless regression into madness where man can never find the answers to questions of how we got here or what we are doing here.
Discuss how the library has been used by different people over the years
a. The library has been accessed by people since the beginning of time with the right knowledge and internet connection. In past times, people have used the library for a variety of reasons. For example, during the Roman Empire, a man named Eratosthenes used the Library to find prime numbers. He worked out that there were 584 Prime numbers between 1 and 10 million [2]. Another man named John Wilkins worked as an English minister and philosopher. He used the library to find out about potential people on other planets [3].
b. In the 19th century, scientists used the library to figure out how to create a vaccine against smallpox [4]. Another 19th century scientist, Karl Wilhelm von Nininger, used the library to find out more about electricity. He worked out that there were two forms of electricity: ‘active’ and ‘passive’. He also found a formula that explained the ‘active’ form [5].
c. In the 20th century, Albert Einstein used the library to work out if light could travel faster than sound. He worked out that it couldn’t [6].
d. In 2015, the library has been used for a variety of different reasons. For example, one man in the United States used it to find the name of his first baby. He found a book called ‘My First Book of Names’ [7]. Another man in Europe used the library to find out where his girlfriend lived [8].
e. A man in the United Kingdom used the library to find his wife’s email and phone number. He got here through a Google search [9]
f. Another man [10] worked out that his girlfriend is a ‘Schwarze’ and started researching on Wikipedias about ‘schwarzes’. After doing this he found out that she’s of mixed race [11].
Offer your own thoughts on the library and what it represents
a. The library is an interesting concept. It allows the user to see all possible outcomes, however bad they may be. If a user can imagine it, then it exists on the library. Any negative feelings associated with this aspect of the library are simply a result of users’ own fears, for example death and loneliness. This is a positive force: it allows the user to escape and be with all those who have gone before, or who may come in the future.
b. The library is also a place of safety and comfort. It brings together all of the users in one location, whether they are old or new. It is a friendly place, where everyone is equal, no matter their experiences in the real world.
c. The library can also be seen as a warning. It shows you all the bad things that could happen, but this is only in your imagination. The library is actually a positive force – it allows you to imagine the destruction of your life and all your loved ones, and to feel bad about it before it happens. This makes it easier to accept real-life tragedy when it does occur.
Include a few quotes from famous authors about the Library of Babel
a. “I doubt that anyone, save a computer, would choose the world’s one and only infinitely large library of books and films, with any given book and film inaccessible to all but the owner.” – Douglas Adams “The Library of Babel is such a strange thing. It’s not just a library where all possible texts are kept; it’s a library where any text can be found (and removed), so it’s a library where anything is possible. And that means that the Library of Babel contains one and only one impossible choice , the choice to create a new text. The choice to choose anything at all.” – Jorge Luis Borges “The library is not a storehouse of books, but rather a collection of books as it were, in which there are infinite rooms, corridors, stairs and passages within corridors. These rooms contain an infinity of books” – Jorge Luis Borges [1] b. “The assumption, I suppose, is that when a baby is born, there are two possibilities: one is called the library, and the other is the library of Babel. Because if you’re born in a library, you have no idea where all the books are kept and may not even be able to read them, but if you’re born in the Library of Babel – which, to tell the truth” – Jorge Luis Borges “Babel”
c. “But if by chance one were a man who could understand all languages, and if by chance he were to pass through the Library of Babel, and if by chance he were to behold this page in the original tongue (which is something that no one can do without divine inspiration) : what would happen? I’ll tell you: the language would explode like a wet firecracker in his cranial cavity.
Beyond these four walls there lie infinite puzzles.” @fallaciosum “It’s raining men”
