The Library of Babel - Philosophical Implications

Philosophical Implications

There are numerous philosophical implications within the idea of the infinite library. Every book in the library is "intelligible", if one decodes it right, simply because it can be decoded into any other book in the library, using a third book as a One-time pad. This lends itself to the philosophical idea proposed by Immanuel Kant, that by defining rules for the universe, we create rules of the universe. In short, any room in the library could be the crimson hexagon. Hidden in the gibberish of the library, there are works beyond human capacity to write. The library is a temptation, because it offers these gems of enlightenment, and buries them in deception. It is a hindrance and a distraction, because it lures one away from writing their own book themselves. One can consider any text as being pulled from the library by the act of the author defining the search letter by letter until they reach a text close enough to the one they intended to write. The text already existed theoretically, but had to be found by the act of the author's imagination. Another implication is an argument against certain proofs of the existence of God, as it is carried out by David Hume using the thought experiment of a similar library of books generated not by human mind, but by nature.