In a nutshell: pretty awesome.
Highlights:
• The concept described in the story is that of a novel that can be read in multiple ways, a hypertext novel. Although Borges never wrote one of these himself, he alludes to the idea before anybody else ever does.
• “I felt myself to be, for an unknown period of time, an abstract perceiver of the world.”
• “I am withdrawing to write a book. And another time: I am withdrawing to construct a labyrinth. Everyone imagined two works; to no one did it occur that a book and a maze were one and the same thing.”
• “He creates, in this way, diverse futures, diverse times which themselves also proliferate and form.”
• “The garden of forking paths was the chaotic novel; the phrase of various futures (not to all) suggested to me the forking of time, not in space.”
Although I don't really fully understand the idea of Quantum Mechanics (who does anyways?) I think the ideas touched upon in this short story are miraculous given the fact that they were brought to the forefront in 1941. Borges must have been quite the creative soul if he was able to dream up and try to make sense of paralell universes that may or may not exist. I think reading about the first conceptualization of the hypertext truly helped to put into perspective the idea, thoughts, rationales, etc. that developed in order to (eventually) create the internet.
Also, take note: BORGES DID NOT INVENT THE INTERNET, HE JUST CONCEPTUALIZED, BEFORE ANYONE ELSE, PLATORMS THAT CREATE THE INTERNET AND ALLOW IT TO EXIST AS WE KNOW IT TODAY.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Borges didn't even create the platforms. He just had an idea of an endless information labyrinth. You're saying he built a pyramid of wood so that someone could come along, add to it, and make a campfire. But he didn't even do that--he's the guy who said, "Hey guys, it's cold outside."
ReplyDeleteReading the concepts such visionaries spoke of way beforehand makes me wonder what would have happened had they not voiced their predictions? Did the prediction come true because it was predicted, or were these guys (and gals) really psychic?
ReplyDeleteI think you make a good point that Borges' ideas are so impressive because it was only 1941. I think people who foreshadow the future are extremely interesting, but it's only in hignsight that we realize it. They do not actively KNOW that they are predicting the future.
ReplyDeleteI mean, to able to conceptualize something so complex as a labryinth is amazing. Not only did Borges thinik about it, he incorporated it into a story, something which I'm sure I, and most people could not even imagine almost seventy years ago.
ReplyDelete