Time Revisited: The Multiple Worlds of Borges

In 1956 quantum physicist Hugh Everett used a quote by Borges in the preface of his book Many Worlds Interpretation, published by Princeton Press. In this book he elaborates on the idea of parallel universes suggesting that time is much more than what we perceive it to be.

In Borges´ classic story “The Aleph”, written in 1941, a character by the name of Albert (signaling Einstein) states: “In opposition to Newton and Schopenhauer, his predecessor did not believe in uniform time”. We see that Borges had already imagined the concept of parallel time and the multiverse. That was 15 years before Everett and over fifty years before Steven Hawking wrote his book A Brief History of time, where he formulates the multiple possibilities of time.

In the three stories listed below we will discover the genius of Borges and how ahead of his time he was. English and Spanish versions are listed.

To sign-up for the event please contact Gwendolyn Díaz-Ridgeway and indicate whether you plan to attend in person (a limit of 15) or through zoom. The meeting will be held in a member’s house in Belgrano, in a large, well-ventilated room open to the garden. Exact details of the location will be provided to those who register to attend in person.

Links to the stories:
El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan, Spanish
The Garden of Forking Paths, English
La biblioteca de Babel, Spanish
The Library of Babel, English
El Aleph, English
El Aleph, Spanish

Optional story:
El otro, Spanish
The Other, English