Caught in a giant strange attractor
June 14, 2024 12:55 AM Subscribe
There are two elements in all this that seem to be at odds with each other. On the one hand, things like a proverb, a symbol, or—as in Borges' story—a novel have some sort of universality. They transcend the ages and remain applicable in different contexts. On the other hand, they acquire a unique flavor every time, dependent on the specifics of the people and times involved. This is not a paradox, though, but a typical result of chaotic processes. from Borges on Chaos Theory [Aether Mug]
As a kid i watched the shit out of this CHAOS documentary I had taped at home. It felt like I was gifted a new sense allowing me a glimpse into an exploded-view of churning cause and effect lurking underneath every day reality entropically ticking away.
The freakish universality of chaos provides deep insights into the boundaries of stability and predictability for any sufficiently complex dynamic system. We are all shackled to this constant unfolding of patterns twisting into randomness or richness. It's hiding in every domain, every medium and institution and process and system and material encodes fingerprints of this truth.
I like this article because it highlights the invisible long arm of chaos in the banal or the superficially simplistic.
posted by neonamber at 3:03 AM on June 14 [3 favorites]
The freakish universality of chaos provides deep insights into the boundaries of stability and predictability for any sufficiently complex dynamic system. We are all shackled to this constant unfolding of patterns twisting into randomness or richness. It's hiding in every domain, every medium and institution and process and system and material encodes fingerprints of this truth.
I like this article because it highlights the invisible long arm of chaos in the banal or the superficially simplistic.
posted by neonamber at 3:03 AM on June 14 [3 favorites]
Nice little article. "Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote" blew my mind when I read it for the first time, a couple lifetimes ago, and it is not even the most mind-blowing story in "Ficciones", a book that includes "La biblioteca de Babel" and "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius".
The story is a gentle satire of literary analysis, on the one side. But what Borges is doing (and what the article hints at) is that he is treating a literary text as if it were a mathematical proof: you can start from different sets of assumptions, and operate in different ways, but you will always arrive at the conclusion that there is no fraction that equals the square root of 2.
In the same way, Pierre Menard wants to prove that he, as a french poet from the 20th century, can arrive at "El Quijote" the same way that Cervantes did, a spanish former soldier from the 16th century.
I can only recommend everyone to read "Ficciones". It is a short book, and as Borges himself wrote in an essay: "why fill a whole book with an idea, when a short story is enough to present it?".
posted by LaVidaEsUnCarnaval at 6:31 AM on June 14 [7 favorites]
The story is a gentle satire of literary analysis, on the one side. But what Borges is doing (and what the article hints at) is that he is treating a literary text as if it were a mathematical proof: you can start from different sets of assumptions, and operate in different ways, but you will always arrive at the conclusion that there is no fraction that equals the square root of 2.
In the same way, Pierre Menard wants to prove that he, as a french poet from the 20th century, can arrive at "El Quijote" the same way that Cervantes did, a spanish former soldier from the 16th century.
I can only recommend everyone to read "Ficciones". It is a short book, and as Borges himself wrote in an essay: "why fill a whole book with an idea, when a short story is enough to present it?".
posted by LaVidaEsUnCarnaval at 6:31 AM on June 14 [7 favorites]
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posted by HearHere at 2:14 AM on June 14 [1 favorite]