Meng Li's Cocker Spaniel was well-trained. It didn't run around or bark after entering the shop. Instead, it lay quietly on the floor, sniffed, and looked at the back kitchen of the snack bar with its big eyes. The aroma of frying came from there.
Zhang Zian drank two mouthfuls of orange juice and stared at the arrangement of letters on the napkin, thinking silently.
Since they were talking about science fiction, he remembered a novel he had read before. He said, "Mr. Meng, have you ever read a very short fantasy novel called The Book of Sand?"
"The Book of Sand?"
This time, it was Meng Li's turn to be stunned. He was bending over to comb the Cocker Spaniel's hair. The Cocker Spaniel's hair was too long, and it was naturally curly and bunched up easily. It needed to be combed frequently, otherwise it would look very sloppy. His graduate students' daily task was to comb the dog's hair in addition to studying. They often mocked themselves as "cotton flick"...
Meng Li thought for a while and confirmed that the name was very strange. He probably hadn't read it before.
"Like I said, I rarely read science fiction. Most of the books I read are related to mathematics. After all, it's better to stay alive and learn. If I'm not careful, I'll be obsolete." He laughed. "Is' The Book of Sand 'very interesting?"
"No, although it's called The Book of Sand, it's not a book. It's a super short fantasy novel of only 2,000 words. The author is Argentinian writer Jorge Borges. This is one of his masterpieces," Zhang Zian explained. He had read this science fiction novel a long time ago. Because it was short, incisive, and shocking, he still remembered it.
"Oh?" Meng Li was a little interested. "In mathematics, simplicity is often beauty. This novel is only 2,000 words, but it can become a masterpiece of a writer? Then it must be a very thoughtful and artistic story. What does it talk about? "
Zhang Zian recalled and briefly described the fantasy novel.
At the beginning of The Book of Sand, an ordinary protagonist lived in an ordinary house. One day, a stranger came to visit with a small suitcase. The stranger was selling Bibles, but the protagonist had several Bibles and was not interested. The stranger then produced another book, which was not a Bible, but had the name Holy Book written on its cover.
After the protagonist opened the Holy Book, he found that the page numbers of the Holy Book were very strange. They were not arranged in order, but in random order. The most important thing was that the pages of the Holy Book were endless. No matter how he flipped, he could not reach the beginning or the end. There would always be new pages appearing out of thin air, and they were accompanied by illustrations like a dictionary.
The stranger said that he had bought it from a village, and that the seller had called it the Book of Sand, because it had no beginning or end like sand.
The book was obviously very strange, but the stranger was willing to sell it to the protagonist at a relatively low price. In fact, the protagonist had long wanted to get rid of it.
After the protagonist got the book, he also became its captive. Because he cherished it so much, he never left it. Because he developed a strong interest in it, he studied it day and night. He couldn't sleep at night. Occasionally, when he fell asleep, he dreamed of it.
Like the stranger, the protagonist realized that he would be finished if he continued like this, so he decided to get rid of this nightmare.
Speaking of this, Zhang Zian imitated Meng Li and asked, "Mr. Meng, can you guess how the protagonist got rid of this book?"
Meng Li was completely attracted by this bizarre story. He stopped grooming the Cocker Spaniel and tried to guess. "Did he sell it to someone else like the stranger?"
Zhang Zian smiled. "He used a smarter method — hiding trees in the forest. When no one was paying attention, he secretly placed the book on one of the bookshelves in the National Library, which has 900,000 books. When he placed it, he tried not to remember which bookshelf it was. After that, he even stopped going to the street where the library was located. "
Meng Li gently patted the table in admiration. "What a good idea! In this way, the Book of Sand would never see the light of day, unless some unlucky guy happened to pick it up with a one in 900,000 chance! "
Zhang Zian smiled bitterly. The unlucky guy was sitting in front of you, and he even bought you a glass of orange juice.
He remembered that when Pi first came to the pet shop, it made a gesture of grabbing sand. At that time, he guessed that it meant the sand of the Ganges River. Could it be that he guessed wrong?
"That's the end of the story?" Meng Li asked longingly.
Zhang Zian nodded. "That's the end. It leaves a fascinating ending. Mr. Meng, isn't this Book of Sand very similar to the Hyperwebster Dictionary? "
Meng Li said, "Yes, but the Hyperwebster Dictionary is more rigorous. It has a beginning."
Zhang Zian agreed. After all, the Hyperwebster Dictionary was a scientific hypothesis, while the Book of Sand was a literary fantasy. They just happened to be similar in some aspects.
"Whether it's the Hyperwebster Dictionary or the Book of Sand, if they exist, they must be very precious, right? They can be considered the most powerful books on Earth. If there are other civilizations in the universe, will they come up with even more powerful books? "he asked.
He remembered Xinghai said that the nameless book was the most powerful book on Earth, but not the most powerful book in the universe.
Meng Li laughed. "Powerful? Of course. However, these two books had their limitations. The limitation was that they were both written in English, limited by the 26 English letters. Some things might not be able to be expressed with 26 English letters. If a civilization in the universe has a more complete language system, the Hyperwebster Dictionary they came up with must be even more powerful. "
Zhang Zian nodded. That confirmed Xinghai's words.
"Mr. Meng, if you got the Book of Sand or the Hyperwebster Dictionary, what would you do?" he asked tentatively.
Meng Li was drinking orange juice. He stopped when he heard the question.
"Get it? No matter which of the two books it is, they shouldn't exist in reality. How can I get it? "he asked with the rigidity of a science student.
"What if … what if you get it?" Zhang Zian emphasized.
"Well …" Meng Li thought for a moment. "If I got the Book of Sand, I would probably read it. As for whether I would be addicted to it like the main character in the story … I'm not sure, but I probably would. After all, a lot of people have a thirst for knowledge. But if I got the Hyperwebster Dictionary … it's hard to say. The words in it might be arranged out of order. Even I wouldn't be able to understand it. I might have to hand it over to the government."
He said half-jokingly.
"That's another question I have." Zhang Zian did not pay attention to his little joke. Instead, he seized the opportunity to ask further questions. "If the words in the Hyperwebster Dictionary are arranged out of order, then how can you assert that it contains all knowledge and beautiful essays?"
Meng Li pondered. "That's only in theory. But it's just a hypothesis. It doesn't take into account the difficulty of reading …"
Zhang Zian said, "Professor Meng, you've heard of this saying, 'My life is limited, but knowledge is boundless.'"
"I know. Although I'm a mathematician, I still know such a famous saying." Meng Li smiled. "This saying means that life is limited, but knowledge is boundless. But does this saying have anything to do with the Hyperwebster Dictionary and the Book of Sand we're talking about? "
"Yes, and it has a lot to do with it," Zhang Zian said with certainty. "Professor Meng, do you know what the second half of the sentence is?"
"Well …" Meng Li was stumped.
The first half of this sentence was too famous, but people often ignored the second half. Many famous sayings were like that. People took them out of context and twisted their original meaning. For example, "Don't travel far when your parents are still alive" was often used to educate filial children. However, there was a second half of the sentence in Confucius' original text, "Travel must be done in the right way."
"The second half of the sentence is: 'To pursue the boundless with the limited, it is perilous!'" Zhang Zian answered his own question.
Meng Li carefully chewed on the second half of the sentence, then compared it with the first half. He said uncertainly, "I'm not very good at ancient Chinese. The second half of the sentence is: 'To pursue the infinite with the limited, it is bound to fail?'"
"That's right."
"The words of our ancestors still make sense today," Meng Li sighed.
"I think so too," Zhang Zian agreed casually. This was actually his reflection. He had more or less understood something.
The nameless book, whether it was the Hyperwebster Dictionary, the Book of Sand, or the imaginary book of other civilizations in the universe, was infinite. Human beings were limited. To pursue the infinite with the limited was bound to fail. Therefore, no human being could understand the nameless book alone. When he opened the nameless book and tried to understand it, he made the mistake of "pursuing the infinite with the limited."
The protagonist of the Book of Sand, because of his extreme thirst for knowledge, also made the same mistake. He did not understand that knowledge was infinite, but his time was limited.
It was: My life is limited, but knowledge is boundless; to pursue the infinite with the limited, it is perilous!
Unless …
Meng Li also thought of this. "A limited number of people can't read an infinite number of books, unless people are also infinite. If countless people read the Hyperwebster Dictionary at the same time, seeking infinity with infinity, everyone extracts meaningful words at the same time and connects them into entries and articles..."
"But how can there be infinite people? It's still meaningless. "He shook his head and sighed.
No, it is meaningful, Zhang Zian said silently in his heart.
He knew why Xinghai could understand the nameless book. It was because Xinghai had experienced countless reincarnations and had the attribute of "infinite."
Famous had experienced reincarnations and reincarnations with Xinghai for a long time in the Imagined Landscape. It was also close to the boundary of "infinite," so it could see the blurred handwriting.
Pi could understand it because it also had the attribute of "infinite."
Only by pursuing the infinite with the infinite could one understand the nameless book.
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