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October 27, 2005
(hu)Man the imperfect librarian
The architecture that Borges constructs in "Library of Babel" and "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" delivers a prophetic picture of how our culture will shift within an ever-expanding informational space. As access to the internet and other production tools has increased, we can see some of what Borges describes in these works. Each product that society creates (i.e. film, book, website, political exercise) is almost immediately split through the prism of culture into an array of analyses, satires, and rebuttals. Within this structure, how can an individual navigate this explosion of ideas? Even if one thinks that s/he is certain of what they are searching for, how can they be confident that the resources they locate are definitive? (I really appreciate Ed's thought on Wikipedia in this context.)
The passage that I find most compelling, and the most devastating, in the Library of Babel is where Borges describes the reaction to the all-inclusiveness of the Library. At first, people are very excited by the prospect of having access to all information because they equate access with a path for the revelation of truth. Shortly, they realize that information is not all that is necessary for understanding, and thus they become inordinately depressed by the infinite forking of information pathways. I think this is where we stand now in relation to the internet and media technology. After the initial enthusiasm for the internet, we are struggling now to determine how to manage the mounds of information piling up.
Posted by Robert Croft at October 27, 2005 04:27 PM