Chapter 590: Infinity
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Cocker Spaniel that Meng Li brought over was well trained, and didn't bark or wander around everywhere. It lay quietly on the floor, sniffed, blinked its big eyes, and stared at the kitchen of the small restaurant, where the aroma of cooked food was coming from.
Zhang Zian took a few sips of his orange juice, then thought silently about the letters on the napkin.
Since they were talking about science fiction, he remembered a fiction story he'd read in the past. He asked, "Professor Meng, I'm wondering if you've read a short fantasy story, called the Book of Sand?"
"Book of Sand?"
This time, it was Meng Li's turn to feel shocked. He was bending over to comb out his Cocker Spaniel's fur. Cocker Spaniels had naturally curly long fur, which easily tangled and needed frequent combing. Otherwise, they would look sleazy. Besides from studying, his graduate students had another assignment to comb the dog's hair, which made them joke that they were working at a cotton mill.
Meng Li thought for a while and was certain that this name was unfamiliar. He hadn't read it.
"Like I said, I rarely read science fiction. Most of the books I read are about math. You have to keep learning these days, otherwise you'll get outdated very easily." He smiled. "Is this Book of Sand an interesting read?"
"No, despite the fact that it's called Book of Sand, it's not an actual book, but a short fantasy story with only 2000 words. The author is the Argentinean writer, Jorge Luis Borges. This is his most recognized work," explained Zhang Zian. He'd read the story a long time ago, but he still remembered it because it was so mind-blowing.
"Oh?" Meng Li was slightly interested. "In math, brevity is beauty. A story of 2000 words is somehow this author's most recognized work? It must be deep in thought and artistic. What is it about?"
Zhang Zian recalled this science fiction story and began retelling it.
In the beginning of Book of Sand, the hero was an ordinary man living in an ordinary house. One day, a stranger visited him with a suitcase. The stranger was selling the Bible, but the man was not interested, as he already owned a few Bibles. Then the stranger took out another book. It wasn't a Bible, but the cover read The Holy Book.
After flipping open The Holy Book, the protagonist found that the page numbers were odd. They weren't in sequential order, but completely random. Most importantly, the page number of the book was endless, and he could never find the beginning nor the end. New pages always appeared out of nowhere, and the book had pictures like a dictionary.
The stranger said that he bought this book from a village. The salesperson called it The Book of Sand, as it was endless like sand.
It was a very strange book, but the stranger was willing to sell it to the man at a relatively low price. In fact, he'd wanted to get rid of it for a long time.
After getting this book, that man also became its slave. He stopped going out, for he loved the book so much that he couldn't step away from it. He studied it all day and night, because of his obsessive interest in it. He could no longer sleep. And even if he did sleep, he dreamed about it all the time.
Like the stranger, the man suddenly realized that his life would be completely ruined if he continued on this way. So he decided to get rid of this nightmare just as the stranger did.
After getting this far, Zhang Zian suddenly started acting mysterious and asked, "Can you guess how the hero got rid of the book?"
Meng Li was completed drawn in by this odd story. He stopped combing the Cocker Spaniel's fur and took a guess. "Did he sell it to somebody else, like the stranger did?"
Zhang Zian smiled. "He did something smarter. He hid it like a tree in the forest. When nobody was watching, he hid the book on a bookshelf of a national library with 0.9 million books, and tried not to remember which shelf it was. He never even visited the street where the library was."
Meng Li knocked on the table with excitement. "Great idea! If he did so, this Book of Sand could no longer be found, unless some extremely unlucky guy picked it up, with a chance of 1 out of 0.9 million!"
Zhang Zian smiled bitterly. This extremely unlucky is sitting right in front of you, and offered you a glass of orange juice.
He remembered that when Pi first arrived at the pet shop, it would make a gesture of slipping sand out of its hand. Back then, he thought that it was referring to the sand of Ganges river. Could he be wrong?
"So is the story is over?" Meng Li was looking forward to hearing more.
Zhang Zian nodded. "It's finishes with an open ending. Professor, is this Book of Sand similar to The Hyperwebster Dictionary?"
Meng Li said, "Indeed. But the Hyperwebster is more rigorous, and it does have a beginning."
Zhang Zian agreed on this. The Hyperwebster was a theory of science, but the Book of Sand was a fantasy of literature. They shared some similarities only in certain aspects.
"Either the Hyperwebster or the Book of Sand, if they do exist, would be very precious. Aren't they? They would be the most impressive books on Earth. Or if there are other civilizations in the universe, could they come up with better books?" he asked.
He remembered that Galaxy once said the nameless book was the most impressive book on the earth, but not in the universe.
Meng Li asked, "Impressive? Of course. Except that both books have limitations, which is because they're written in English, and are limited to the 26 letters. Some ideas can't be expressed by just 26 English letters. If some civilization in the universe has a more comprehensive linguistic system, they could theorize a better version of the Hyperwebster."
Zhang Zian nodded. This confirmed Galaxy's remark.
"If you got a copy of the Book of Sand, or the Hyperwebster, what would you do?" He tentatively asked again.
Meng Li was drinking his orange juice. He stopped after hearing these words.
"Get a copy? Neither of these two book are supposed to exist in real life. How would I get a copy?" He pushed the question back with a scientist's rationality.
"In theory, let's suppose you had one." Zhang Zian clarified.
"Well..." Meng Li thought about it. "If I got the Book of Sand, I might read it. If I would end up getting obsessed over it like the man from the story...I'm not sure, maybe. A lot of people crave knowledge, after all. But if I got the Hyperwebster, well, it's hard to say. The words might be in random order. I wouldn't be able to read even if I try. Perhaps I would give it to the government."
He was half joking.
"This is my other question." Zhang Zian ignored his joke. "If the words in the Hyperwebster are in random order, how can you know that it contains all knowledge and all of the great writings?"
Meng Li murmured, "This is theoretical. Theories are theories, after all. They never consider the obstacles of actually reading it."
Zhang Zian continued. "Have you heard this quote: My life has an end, but knowledge is endless?"
"Yes. I may be a mathematician, but I know this famous quote." Meng Li smiled. "It means that, our lives are limited, but knowledge is limitless. How is this related to our discussion about the Hyperwebster and the Book of Sand?"
"It is, in fact, very much related." Zhang Zian spoke firmly. "Professor Meng, do you know the second half of this quote?"
"Well..." Meng Li had no idea.
The first half of this quote was well-known, but the second half was often ignored. A lot of famous quotes were like this. People only took the parts that they needed, and twisted the original meanings. Such as the quote: When your parents are still around, you travel too far. It was often used to teach people to treat their parents properly. However, in the original text of Confucius, the second half was: If you travel, you must have a plan.
"The second half is: Chasing the endless with the limited is dangerous!" Zhang Zian answered his own question.
Meng Li considered the second half of the quote, and compared it to the first half. Then he said with uncertainty, "I'm not an expert in ancient literature. The second half means pursuing unlimited knowledge with my limited life is doomed to fail?"
"Correct."
"Our ancestor's words still make sense today," exclaimed Meng Li.
"I agree," said Zhang Zian half-heartedly. This was all his self-reflection. He understood something, more or less.
That untitled book, whether it was the Hyperwebster or the Book of Sand, or some other imaginary book of another civilization in the universe, was endless. But human beings were still limited. Pursuing the neverending with the limited was destined to fail. Therefore, nobody could read the nameless book on their own. As he flipped open the nameless book in attempt to understand it, he was making this mistake.
The man from the Book of Sand, out of his thirst for knowledge, was making the same mistake as well. He didn't realize that knowledge was without bounds, but his time was limited.
It really was true. My life has an end, but knowledge is endless. Chasing the endless with the limited is dangerous!
Unless...
Meng Li realized this at the same time. "A limited person cannot read an endless book, unless there are endless numbers of people. If an infinite number of people are reading the Hyperwebster at the same time, and each person is extracting meaningful words and connect them into lines and articles, then they are pursuing infinity with infinity."
"But how can there be infinite numbers of people? It's still meaningless." He shook his head and sighed.
No, it is meaningful, said Zhang Zian silently to himself.
He understood why Galaxy could read the nameless book. It had been through an infinite number of reincarnations, and had the infinity feature.
Famous was going through reincarnations with Galaxy in the Imagined World, and touched the border of infinity. That was why it could see blurry words.
Pi could read it, as it must have also possessed the infinite feature.
One could only understand the nameless book by pursuing infinity with infinity.