Within the framework of the joint initiative with the Enrico Fermi Research Center, the Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Rome proudly presented “The Intelligence of Babel- Dialogues between Literature and Science” an event dedicated to Jorge Luis Borges and in particular to his short story titled “The Library of Babel”, that first appeared in 1941 in the collection “The Garden of Forking Paths” and then in 1944 in the volume “Fictions”.
The meeting started from Borges’ story to explore, through his great philosophical provocations and literary suggestions, the connections between the human mind and artificial intelligence. Sony CSL – Rome is particularly interested in these relationships not only to increase the scientific knowledge of the basic mechanisms of artificial mind, but above all to better understand the dynamics that characterize human creativity and their relationships with mathematical theories of innovation.
Being creative means successfully exploring the complex space of possibilities, evaluating the intrinsic value of the created object, and thus increasing the starting knowledge. Borges speaks to us of an opposite model, an immanent place where all knowledge is eternally present, but whose keys to acquire it are completely unknown to us; despite the answer to this question necessarily being contained within the library itself.
The voice of Manuela Cherubini, who read the book’s excerpts made it easier for the public to enter into Borges’ poetics, that sometimes appears such a complex labyrinth of mysterious worlds and opened the discussion on the authors’ evocative narrative.
Together with Alessandro Londei, our researcher expert in artificial intelligence, the speakers included Alessandra Ghezzani, professor of Hispanic-American literature at the University of Pisa and expert on Borges, author of the books “Reading Borges” and “Borges literary critic. Structures and discursive procedures”, Silvano Tagliagambe, emeritus professor of Philosophy of Science, physicist and epistemologist. Moderated by Manuela Cherubini, theater director and dissemination expert the topics explored during the event sparked the curiosity among the public and this brought to an interesting debate between the speakers and the people present in the room.
The registered event is available below.