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October 18, 2005
Borges' "Labyrinths"
This must be the stuff Science Fiction is made of. The idea of creating one's own planet may seem exciting at first, but I imagine, once these men started, they got a shock when they realized it was actual work! It became not only a lifetime commitment, but one that lasted through several generations. Reading about them made me feel like I was reading about the free Masons.
This is all very well and good, but probably besides the point of why we were assigned to read this passage. No, I imagine the bits I should be extracting and elaborating upon are the Tlon's concept of space and objects, and their way of thinking about them. The author makes the connection between space and time that the people of the planet Tlon culturally do not. I believe the example involved a burning cigarette in one hand a burning bush in the other, or some such thing, and there being no real-world correlation between the two, because in order for there to be, the cigarette would had to have moved through space and existed in time to light the bush. He furthermore explains that any existing correlation between the two is only a result of psychological association.
Right. Leave it to a bunch of old men to create a world that exists only the way they perceive it to- no guilt, no cause and no effect. Oh, wait! I think that's Earth I was just talking about!
I have to say that I don't find the Tlonian way of thinking nearly as labyrinthine as the author would like me to. The confusion lies only in the pieces of the puzzle left out of the writing. I think many of the ideas are obvious biproducts of human superstition and the others simply pipe dreams. Wouldn't it be wonderful if objects existed solely to fulfill our needs? Yes, of course it would- much less clutter for one thing. But, there are people on this planet who might argue that it already works this way. We call it metaphysical. Strange, yes. Labrynthine, I think not.
Posted by Roman, Christin at October 18, 2005 10:00 AM