David and Tamler try to wrap their heads around Jorge Luis Borges' â€œThe Library of Babelâ€ â€“ a short story about a universe/library that contains every possible book with every possible combination of characters. How many books would this library contain? Would some of the books justify our lives (if we could find them)? Can we know whether a book is deeply meaningful or deeply misleading? Why are the librarians so alone and so consumed with anguish? Wouldnâ€™t we all just end up just looking for the porn books? Plus, we talk about the ethics of doing research on data drawn from the Ashley Madison leak. Life is short, listen to this episode.

Links:

I. Y. Yunioshi - Wikipedia
Eddie Murphy: White Like Me (SNL)
Scarlett Johansson Withdraws from Controversial Role as a Trans Man Following Backlash
Neuroskeptic on Twitter: ""Democrats were least likely to use Ashley Madison, Libertarians were most likely, and Republicans, Greens, and unaffiliated voters were in between." https://t.co/2cOeWlfTJu This one'll be controversial. For one thing, based on leaked data!â€¦ https://t.co/fQZRDZEuVa"
The Ethics of Research on Leaked Data: Ashley Madison - Neuroskeptic
Break Music: Nas Is Like (peez remix)
The Library of Babel - Wikipedia
The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges' Library of Babel by William Goldbloom Bloch [amazon.com affiliate link]
The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges

Episode 144: Borges' Babylon 01:23:57 Share

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Shownotes Transcript

Episode 144: Borges' Babylon