What are you reading right now?

ando here · 11-08-2020, 02:07 PM

Heavenly Questions: Poems by Gjertrud Schnackenberg

6 extended poems; an elegy to the poet's late husband, philosopher Robert Nozick.

**Frownland** · 11-08-2020, 02:59 PM

I have no idea how the online thing is generated, but I'm sure that there's some computer algorithmic trickery that would allow to pull up any page of the library without having to store it. That algorithm would essentially be the index book of the whole library that's mentioned.

OccultHawk · 11-08-2020, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

I have no idea how the online thing is generated, but I'm sure that there's some computer algorithmic trickery that would allow to pull up any page of the library without having to store it. That algorithm would essentially be the index book of the whole library that's mentioned.

It would have to remember every book or you couldn’t return to it

**Frownland** · 11-08-2020, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

It would have to remember every book or you couldn’t return to it

Not if you had the algorithmic model that I described. If you knew the location of the book you had in mind, you could plug that info in and regenerate the text to return to. It'd be mad complicated though, obviously.

That's not how this one is set up though, it only has every possible page of the library, not every book/shelf/wall/hexagon.

OccultHawk · 11-08-2020, 03:10 PM

And the drop down boxes are like 8 or whatever. They’d have to be billions.

OccultHawk · 11-08-2020, 03:20 PM

Quote:

The Library of Babel is a place for scholars to do research, for artists and writers to seek inspiration, for anyone with curiosity or a sense of humor to reflect on the weirdness of existence - in short, it’s just like any other library. If completed, it would contain every possible combination of 1,312,000 characters, including lower case letters, space, comma, and period. Thus, it would contain every book that ever has been written, and every book that ever could be - including every play, every song, every scientific paper, every legal decision, every constitution, every piece of scripture, and so on. At present it contains all possible pages of 3200 characters, about 104677 books.

Since I imagine the question will present itself in some visitors’ minds (a certain amount of distrust of the virtual is inevitable) I’ll head off any doubts: any text you find in any location of the library will be in the same place in perpetuity. We do not simply generate and store books as they are requested - in fact, the storage demands would make that impossible. Every possible permutation of letters is accessible at this very moment in one of the library's books, only awaiting its discovery. We encourage those who find strange concatenations among the variations of letters to write about their discoveries in the forum, so future generations may benefit from their research.

????

OccultHawk · 11-08-2020, 03:40 PM

I wouldn’t have believed it was possible even if it’s just pages

I have to think though no matter what the algorithm if enough people started using it the bandwidth or whatever it would take to regenerate the same pages in perpetuity would collapse

I’m flabbergasted tbh

But it is true that using the browse function that allows you to jump from spot to spot in the library doesn’t really offer everything does it?

I can’t wrap my head around that being possible

OccultHawk · 11-11-2020, 04:29 PM

Exhalation: Stories is a collection of short stories by American writer Ted Chiang.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhalation:_Stories

adidasss · 11-21-2020, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

Exhalation: Stories is a collection of short stories by American writer Ted Chiang.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhalation:_Stories

Read it, pretty great. There's a lack of really great Sci-fi these days.

OccultHawk · 11-21-2020, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adidasss

Read it, pretty great. There's a lack of really great Sci-fi these days.

Have you read any kim stanley robinson?

11-08-2020, 02:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	I have no idea how the online thing is generated, but I'm sure that there's some computer algorithmic trickery that would allow to pull up any page of the library without having to store it. That algorithm would essentially be the index book of the whole library that's mentioned. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

11-08-2020, 03:10 PM	#5 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	And the drop down boxes are like 8 or whatever. They’d have to be billions. __________________ 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND: https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

11-08-2020, 03:40 PM	#7 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	I wouldn’t have believed it was possible even if it’s just pages I have to think though no matter what the algorithm if enough people started using it the bandwidth or whatever it would take to regenerate the same pages in perpetuity would collapse I’m flabbergasted tbh But it is true that using the browse function that allows you to jump from spot to spot in the library doesn’t really offer everything does it? I can’t wrap my head around that being possible __________________ 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND: https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

11-11-2020, 04:29 PM	#8 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	Exhalation: Stories is a collection of short stories by American writer Ted Chiang. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhalation:_Stories __________________ 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND: https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

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11-08-2020, 02:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
ando here Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2020 Location: NY, NY Posts: 1,802	Heavenly Questions: Poems by Gjertrud Schnackenberg 6 extended poems; an elegy to the poet's late husband, philosopher Robert Nozick.