The fact that there’s an actually functional website for the library of Babel is one of those things that fucks me up more and more the more I think about the implications.
So, if anyone hasn’t encountered the concept of the library of Babel, the idea comes from a story of the same name by Jorge Luis Borges, which is set inside a seemingly infinite library which contains every possible combination of letters, periods, commas and spaces that fits within 410 pages.
So like… It isn’t THAT out there that someone was able to make a digital version of it. Making an algorithm that randomly generates every possible combination of those 29 characters within that space and making a website that lets you explore those combinations are things that are pretty squarely within the scope of things you’d expect someone to be able to make a computer do.
But it begins to get pretty out there when you start thinking about all the things that are technically contained there (and that someone randomly browsing it could THEORETICALLY stumble upon) just by virtue of being one of those possible combinations of letters, spaces, commas, and periods.
Somewhere in that website there IS a book that specifically mentions me by full name before giving an accurate, excruciatingly detailed, 410-page long physical description of me. There’ also many more books that SEEM to be that but are actually factually inaccurate. There’s also versions of all of those containing every possible combination of every possible typo, spelling mistake, and grammatical error.
Somewhere in that website there IS a book that’s a perfectly accurate prediction of how and when I will die narrated in third person over the course of 410 pages. There’s also a book that contains the exact same events narrated in first person. Not only for me, but for every person in the world. There are many more that claim to be that but are actually inaccurate.
Somewhere in that website there IS a book that’s completely blank except for the world’s funniest dick joke written right at the end of the very last page.
But chances are no one browsing that website is EVER going to see any of that because for every book we would consider useful, interesting, or even intelligible there are millions upon millions upon millions more that are just completely full of gibberish from cover to cover.
Every single thing I will ever write (barring punctuation marks that arent periods or commas and the letter ñ) is already contained somewhere on that website.
I have a volume from the Library of Babel! it’s one of my most treasured books.
on the second to last page, about halfway down it reads “OH TIME THY PYRAMIDS” a singular grain of order in the sea of chaos.
The library of babel contains every book to ever exist and moreover it contains all information that can be encoded in a finite string of characters from its alphabet.
I cannot overstate how much I love the Library of Babel. it’s wonderful, it is my heart and soul.
at last we created the perplexing nexus, from the novel “wouldnt it be weird if there was a perplexing nexus?”
Me: *looking at a porcelain hand in the home decor aisle of a store* if I lost my hands in some kind of tragic accident, I’d decorate my entire home with hand-shaped things. Then I’d invite guests over for like, dinner parties and such and sit there expectantly just basking in their discomfort.
My boyfriend: Do you hear what you say when you talk? Do you know what you just said to me?
some of y'all need to learn how to accept hospitality. stop assuming people are only offering to look after you out of twisted obligation that they don’t actually want to do. when you assume that, you are often denying someone the opportunity to genuinely show a friend or stranger love. even if you don’t really care about what they’re offering, it’s respectful of their desire to be kind to accept it anyways.
i had a bunch of girls i’ve never met over for a women’s group. every single one of them denied my offer to make them tea (despite already making myself a mug anyways), get them water, a scone, etc.
i can tell when people refuse to let me be a good host because they “don’t want to be a bother”. like no!! please be a bother!!! i want to serve you and make you comfortable in my home!
not to be like “we live in a society” but really do live in a modern culture than emphasizes individualism to the point where people will reflexively deny any help or kindness from others for fear of treading on their independence. newsflash: dependence on each other is what makes a community. next time someone offers you kindness, accept it instead of making excuses for why you don’t need it. otherwise you’ve robbed both yourself of being loved and someone else from showing love.
One of the things that really helped me make friends as an adult was learning that people want to be wanted, they want to be useful
Accepting help and offering help in return was key to deepening acquaintances into fully-fledged friendships
Nah babe, we’ve effectively regressed back to shaming women for openly liking something unless they write a 3 page disclaimer about how they understand that the sexy morally gray character is actually PrObLeMaTiC and solemnly swear that books and movies will not lead them astray from a life of devout self-denial.
honestly its funny when really long standing fandom is starved of new content, because people start dissecting the source material in really specific ways. not in analytic way, because that was done long ago, but like in “desperately using microscope to try find very last scraps of meat” kind of way.
what i mean is that at some point i saw lotr gif set that was like “frodo + looking to left”
so many amazing words in the english language. you have clandestine and precarious and serendipity and iconoclast and then you also have staunch and sludge and slurp and smudge
generally not super into shapeshifter characters being revealed to have like a singular True Form. isnt it much more interesting to imagine a creature so fluid and ever-changing that even they cant identify any one body as the “true” self, or simply dont see the need to?
is this you? yes. this one too? yes. but then which one is the real you? define “real” define “you” theyre all me. even the ones that are someone else? especially those.
tip: everything you pretend to becomes a part of what you are and even the facade you wear for the sake of deception reveals a crucial truth.
I want to apologize to my friends and family who have children for low key treating their kids like dogs but the standard methods for training dogs are even more effective of them because they actually understand language and are better at reasoning.
Positive reinforcement is amazingly effective, like I saw my nephew poking their cat so I sternly told him no, he stopped and I immediately changed my demeanor and cheerfully told him thank you and how happy I was that he listened to me instead of staying angry at him and he got this strange “Oh…It actually does make a difference wether I’m naughty or not” and later my sister in law asked why he’s so polite around me.
That’s literally what works best on dogs. Let them know when you don’t like what they’re doing but also let them know when you’re happy with them even if that means changing your demeanor on a dime (and even if you’re still a bit mad at them for doing it in the first place).
Oh and little treats. I skipped the aunt phase and is already turning into a grandma who has candy in her pockets for the kiddos for good behavior.
Yes yes!
Firmess without violence, clear consistent reasonable rules, rewarding desired behaviors, and showing consideration for their feelings works great on all of us- dogs, people, cats, horses, heck they do this with octopuses and it works. It lets us communicate what behavior is pleasing to all and safe to do, or to use to communicate, and what behavior is not.
i simply need everyone to understand that i am tired all of the time. literally at all moments. if i ever go somewhere and do something, it is not because i am somehow full of energy, but instead that i have carefully stored up all of my little bits of energy like a dragon collecting jewels, and am now vaporizing them all at once
“average person eats 3 spiders a year” factoid actualy just statistical error. average person eats 0 spiders per year. Spiders Georg, who lives in cave & eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
An actual World Heritage Post
how does this post not have a million notes but anyone online can quote it
one week until ten years of Spiders Georg
WHERES THAT POST FUCK YOU PEOPLE WHO DONT CELEBRATE FICTION CHARACTERS BIRTHDAY
ALT
