Chapter Five Hundred and Ninetieth Infinite

The cocker spaniel brought by Meng Li was well trained. After entering the store, he didn't run around and bark. He lay quietly on the floor, sniffed, and looked at the back kitchen of the snack bar with his big eyes. The aroma of frying and frying.

Zhang Zian drank two sips of orange juice, staring at the arrangement of letters on the napkin and thinking silently.

Now that he talked about science fiction, he remembered a novel he had read before, so he said, "Mr. Meng, have you 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 is too long, and it is naturally curly and clumps. It needs to be combed frequently, otherwise it will look sloppy. In addition to studying, the daily task of the graduate students he leads is to groom dogs, and he often laughs at himself as playing cotton...

After Meng Li recalled it a little, he was sure that the name was very strange, and he probably hadn't seen it before.

"As I said, I seldom read science fiction, and I usually read books related to mathematics. After all, these days I have to live and learn, and if I don't pay attention, I will be eliminated by the times." He laughed. , "Is this "Book of Sand" interesting?"

"No, although it's called The Book of Sand, it's not a 'book', it's an ultra-short fantasy novel of only 2,000 words written by the Argentine writer Jorge Borges, and this is one of his masterpieces. "Zhang Zian explained that this is a science fiction novel he had read a long time ago, because it is short, incisive and shocking, and he still remembers it deeply.

"Oh?" Meng Li became a little interested, "In mathematics, brevity 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 is it about?"

Zhang Zian briefly described this fantasy novel to him while recalling.

"The Book of Sand" begins with an ordinary protagonist living in an ordinary house. One day, a stranger with a small box came to visit. The Stranger is a Bible salesman, but the protagonist has several Bibles and is not interested in them. The stranger then took out another book, this one was not a Bible, and it said "Holy Book" on the cover.

After the protagonist opened the holy book, he found that the page numbering of the holy book was very strange. They were not arranged in sequence, but randomly and randomly. At the beginning, you can't turn to the end. There will always be new pages created out of thin air, and they will be accompanied by illustrations like a dictionary.

The stranger said that he had bought this book from a village, and the seller called it the "Book of Sand" because, like sand, it had no beginning and no end.

The book is obviously very eccentric, but the stranger is willing to sell it to the protagonist for a relatively low price, because he has long wanted to get rid of it.

After the protagonist gets the book, he also becomes its captive. Because he cherishes it so much, he never leaves it and almost never goes out again; because he is so interested in it, he studies it day and night, sleepless at night, Asleep and dream about it.

Like the stranger, the protagonist is alarmed that if this continues, he is doomed, so he also decides to get rid of this nightmare.

At this point, Zhang Zian imitated Meng Li and asked, "Mr. Meng, can you guess how the protagonist will get rid of this book?"

Meng Li has been completely attracted by this bizarre story,

He stopped combing the cocker spaniel, and tried to guess: "Could it be sold to others like a stranger?"

Zhang Zian smiled, "He used a smarter method - hiding trees in the forest. While no one was looking, he secretly put the book on a certain shelf of the National Library with a collection of 900,000 books, and placed it I try not to remember which shelf it was when I was there, and then I don’t even go down the street where the library is.”

Meng Li patted the table lightly in admiration, "It really is a good idea! If you do this, the "Book of Sand" will never see the light of day, unless some unlucky person happens to get it with a chance of one in nine hundred thousand. up it!"

Zhang Zian smiled wryly—the unlucky guy was sitting in front of you, and even offered you a glass of orange juice.

He remembered that when π first came to the pet shop, he 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?

"Is this the end of the story?" Meng Li asked incredulously.

Zhang Zian nodded, "It's over, leaving a thought-provoking ending. Mr. Meng, is this "Book of Sand" similar to "Super Webster's Dictionary?"

Meng Li said: "It is indeed very similar, but "Super Webster's Dictionary" is more rigorous and has a beginning."

Zhang Zian also admitted this. After all, "Super Webster's Dictionary" is a scientific hypothesis, while "Book of Sand" is a writer's fantasy, but they coincide in some aspects.

"Whether it is "Super Webster's Dictionary" or "Book of Sand", if they exist, they should be very precious, right? Can they be regarded as the most powerful books on earth? If there are other civilizations in the universe, will they come up with A better book?" he asked.

He remembered that Xinghai said that the Untitled Book was the most powerful book on earth, but not the most powerful book in the universe.

Meng Li smiled and said, "Awesome? Of course. But these two books have limitations. The limitation is that they are all written in English, limited by 26 English letters. Some things may be written in 26 English letters. Letters cannot express it. If a certain civilization in the universe has a more complete language system, the "Super-Webster Dictionary" they dreamed up must be more powerful."

Zhang Zian nodded, thus confirming Xinghai's words.

"Mr. Meng, if you got this "Book of Sand" or "Super Webster's Dictionary", what would you do?" He asked again tentatively.

Meng Li was drinking orange juice when he heard this and stopped his movements immediately.

"Get it? No matter which of these two books it is, it shouldn't exist in reality. How do you get it?" He asked stiffly as a science student.

"What if, what if you got it?" Zhang Zian emphasized.

"Well..." Meng Li thought for a while, "If I got the "Book of Sand", I should also read it. As for whether I will be addicted to it like the protagonist of the story... I am not sure, very Maybe, after all, many people have the thirst for knowledge; but if they get "Super Webster's Dictionary"... It's hard to say, the words in it may be arranged in random order, then I will read it I can’t understand it either, maybe it will be handed over to the country.”

he said half-jokingly.

"This is another question I have." Zhang Zian ignored his joke, but grabbed his words and asked further: "If the words in "Super Webster's Dictionary" are arranged out of order, how do you assert that It contains all the knowledge and beautiful articles?"

Meng Li pondered: "This is only a theory, but this hypothesis is only a hypothesis after all, and it doesn't take into account the difficulty of reading..."

Zhang Zian said again: "Teacher Meng, have you heard this saying—my life has a limit, but knowledge has no limit?"

"I know, although I'm a math guy, I still know something so famous." Meng Li smiled, "This sentence means that life is limited, but knowledge is unlimited. But this sentence is not the same as Is the "Super Webster's Dictionary" we're talking about related to "The Book of Sand"?"

"Yes, and it has a lot to do with it." Zhang Zian said with certainty, "Mr. Meng, do you know what the second half of this sentence is?"

"This..." Meng Li was stopped by the question.

The first half of this sentence is too famous, but the second half of it is often overlooked. Many famous sayings are like this. People take out of context according to their own needs and forcibly distort their original meaning. For example, "Parents are here, don't travel far away" is often used to educate filial sons. However, there is the second half of Confucius' original text " There must be a way to swim."

"The second half of the sentence is--if there is a limit, follow the limitless, it's over!" Zhang Zian asked himself and answered.

Meng Li carefully chewed the second half of the sentence, then compared it with the first half of the sentence, and said uncertainly: "I'm not very good at ancient Chinese, this second half of the sentence is to say—pursue the infinite with the finite, Is it bound to fail?"

"That's right."

"The words of the ancestors still have their philosophical principles to this day." Meng Li sighed.

"I think so too." Zhang Zian echoed casually. This is actually his introspection, and he has somewhat understood something.

That unnamed book, no matter whether it is "Super Webster's Dictionary" or "Book of Sand", or a fantasy book belonging to other civilizations in the universe, it is infinite, and human beings are finite, seeking infinity through finiteness, It is bound to fail, so any single human being cannot read the unnamed book. When he opened the untitled book and tried to understand it, he made the mistake of "seeking the infinite with the limited".

The protagonist of The Book of Sand, because of his extreme thirst for knowledge, makes the same mistake, failing to understand that knowledge is infinite and his time is limited.

It is exactly: my life has a limit, but my knowledge has no limit;

unless……

Meng Li also thought of this, "Finite people can't read infinite books, unless people are also infinite. Countless people read "Super Webster's Dictionary" at the same time, seeking infinity with infinity, and everyone extracts some books from it at the same time. Meaningful words, connect them into entries and articles..."

"But how can there be infinite people? It still doesn't make sense." He shook his head and sighed.

No, it actually makes sense, Zhang Zian said silently in his heart.

He knows why Xinghai can understand the unnamed book, because Xinghai has experienced countless reincarnations and has the attribute of "infinity".

Feimasi has experienced the cycle of life and death with Xinghai for a long time in the world of mental imagery, and has also touched the edge of "infinity", so it can see blurred writing.

π can understand, it must be because it also has the attribute of "infinity".

Only by seeking infinity with infinity can one understand the unknown book. ...

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