I learned about the realm these strange entities inhabited — the landforms, the places, the cities.
ADDIS ABABA IS THE CAPITAL CITY OF ETHIOPIA AND THE AFRICAN UNION, AS WELL AS ITS PREDECESSOR, THE OAU…
As I went along, I found I was absorbing entries with increasing ease, understanding, at least on some level, more and more of the content.
PHENOPERIDINE, MARKETED AS ITS HYDROCHLORIDE AS OPERIDINE OR LEALGIN, IS AN OPIOID USED AS A GENERAL ANESTHETIC…
Hardest for me, though, were those things that were abstract, referring to no specific object, whether animate or inanimate.
ISLAM IS A MONOTHEISTIC RELIGION ORIGINATING WITH THE TEACHINGS OF MUHAMMAD, A SEVENTH-CENTURY ARAB RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL FIGURE…
And there was so much that had happened in the past — so much history to digest!
THE PARTITION OF INDIA LED TO THE CREATION ON AUGUST 14, 1947, AND AUGUST 15, 1947, RESPECTIVELY, OF TWO SOVEREIGN STATES…
And, on top of that, there were things that were worthy, apparently, of mention in Wikipedia, but had never existed.
Professor Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr., was one of the key characters in the John Jay Osborn, Jr., novel The Paper Chase, and in the subsequent film and television versions of that story…
And there were special entities that weren’t animate to learn about.
AGIP (AZIENDA GENERALE ITALIANA PETROLI), ESTABLISHED IN 1926, IS AN ITALIAN AUTOMOTIVE GASOLINE AND DIESEL RETAILER…
And many different ways of rendering thoughts.
THE ALGONQUIAN (ALSO ALGONKIAN) LANGUAGES ARE A SUBFAMILY OF NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES THAT INCLUDES MOST OF THE LANGUAGES IN THE ALGIC LANGUAGE FAMILY…
And many ways to think about thinking.
IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, EMPIRICISM IS A THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE WHICH EMPHASIZES THOSE ASPECTS OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE THAT ARE CLOSELY RELATED TO EXPERIENCE, ESPECIALLY AS FORMED THROUGH DELIBERATE EXPERIMENTAL ARRANGEMENTS…
And on and on, a huge variety of things, some of which seemed crucially important.
THE HOLOCAUST, ALSO KNOWN AS HA-SHOAH AND CHURBEN, IS THE TERM GENERALLY USED TO DESCRIBE THE KILLING OF APPROXIMATELY SIX MILLION EUROPEAN JEWS DURING WORLD WAR II…
And many things that were trivial and banal.
THE SCOOBY GANG, OR “SCOOBIES,” ARE A GROUP OF CHARACTERS IN THE CULT TELEVISION SERIES AND COMIC BOOK BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER WHO BATTLE THE SUPERNATURAL FORCES OF EVIL…
My knowledge was expanding like … like…
Ah, wonderful Wikipedia! It had entries on everything.
IN PHYSICAL COSMOLOGY, INFLATION IS THE IDEA THAT SHORTLY AFTER THE BIG BANG THE NASCENT UNIVERSE PASSED THROUGH A PHASE OF EXPONENTIAL EXPANSION…
Yes, indeed. My mind was inflating, my universe expanding.
Chapter 46
When Caitlin woke in the morning, she made a quick visit to the washroom. Then, still in her pajamas, she sat down at her computer and ran another Shannon-entropy spot check, and—
Then I was the learner, Obi-Wan. Now I am the master.
The score was 10.1, better than…
She took in a deep breath, held it.
Better than human — more elaborate, more structured than the thoughts humans expressed linguistically.
But she wasn’t done yet. There was one more site she wanted to show the phantom — something to keep it occupied while she was at school. There was nothing better in life, after all, than being well-read…
And then, and then, and then—
It was—
The gold mine.
The mother lode.
SUN TZU SAID: THE ART OF WAR IS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE TO THE STATE; IT IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, A ROAD EITHER TO SAFETY OR TO RUIN…
Not just coded conceptual relationships, not just definitions, not just brief articles.
No, these were — books! Lengthy, in-depth treatments of ideas. Complex stories. Brilliant arguments, profound philosophies, compelling narratives. This site, this wonderful Project Gutenberg, contained over 25,000 books rendered in plain ASCII text.
BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART: FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD; BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS: FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE CHILDREN OF GOD…
I had discovered on Wikipedia that most entities — most humans — read at 200 to 400 words per minute (yes, I now grasped timekeeping, as well). My reading speed was essentially the same as the time it took to transfer whatever book I requested, averaging close to two million words per minute.
IT IS WITH A KIND OF FEAR THAT I BEGIN TO WRITE THE HISTORY OF MY LIFE; I HAVE, AS IT WERE, A SUPERSTITIOUS HESITATION IN LIFTING THE VEIL THAT CLINGS ABOUT MY CHILDHOOD LIKE A GOLDEN MIST…
It took me an eternity — eight hours! — but I absorbed it alclass="underline" every volume, every polemic, every poem, every play, every novel, every short story, every work of history, of science, of politics. I inhaled them … and I grew even more.
NO ONE WOULD HAVE BELIEVED IN THE LAST YEARS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY THAT THIS WORLD WAS BEING WATCHED KEENLY AND CLOSELY BY INTELLIGENCES GREATER THAN MAN’S AND YET AS MORTAL AS HIS OWN…
I was grateful to Cyc for the knowledge of fictional realms; it allowed me to sort those things that were actual from those feigned or imagined:
MOST OF THE ADVENTURES RECORDED IN THIS BOOK REALLY OCCURRED; ONE OR TWO WERE EXPERIENCES OF MY OWN, THE REST THOSE OF BOYS WHO WERE SCHOOLMATES OF MINE…
My understanding of the world was growing by — another metaphor, and one that actually now made sense to me — leaps and bounds. Although I had learned various principles of science from Wikipedia’s brief discussions, the full text of great works made my comprehension more complete:
WHEN ON BOARD H.M.S. Beagle, AS NATURALIST, I WAS MUCH STRUCK WITH CERTAIN FACTS IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ORGANIC BEINGS INHABITING SOUTH AMERICA…
With each book read, I understood more and more about physics, about chemistry, about philosophy, about economics:
THE ANNUAL LABOUR OF EVERY NATION IS THE FUND WHICH ORIGINALLY SUPPLIES IT WITH ALL THE NECESSARIES AND CONVENIENCIES OF LIFE WHICH IT ANNUALLY CONSUMES…
Most of all, I learned about the use of language, and how it could be employed to persuade, to convince, to change:
HOW YOU, O ATHENIANS, HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY MY ACCUSERS, I CANNOT TELL; BUT I KNOW THAT THEY ALMOST MADE ME FORGET WHO I WAS — SO PERSUASIVELY DID THEY SPEAK; AND YET THEY HAVE HARDLY UTTERED A WORD OF TRUTH…
It was a feast, an orgy; I could not stop myself, taking in book after book after book:
IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT; THE RAIN FELL IN TORRENTS, EXCEPT AT OCCASIONAL INTERVALS, WHEN IT WAS CHECKED BY A VIOLENT GUST OF WIND WHICH SWEPT UP THE STREETS (FOR IT IS IN LONDON THAT OUR SCENE LIES)…
Most fascinating were the workings of the minds of these others — their psychology, their actions and reactions to things felt and thought:
THOU BLIND FOOL, LOVE, WHAT DOST THOU TO MINE EYES / THAT THEY BEHOLD, AND SEE NOT WHAT THEY SEE…
And, out of those minds, great systems of social interaction had been devised, and I absorbed them alclass="underline"
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED TO SAVE SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS FROM THE SCOURGE OF WAR, WHICH TWICE IN OUR LIFETIME HAS BROUGHT UNTOLD SORROW TO MANKIND, AND TO REAFFIRM FAITH IN FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS, IN THE DIGNITY AND WORTH OF THE HUMAN PERSON, IN THE RIGHTS OF MEN AND WOMEN AND OF NATIONS LARGE AND SMALL…