Fahrenheit 451, Gullivers Travels, endianness, datalogi og så sammenhængen

18.04.2025 | litteratur

Også fra bogen Fahrenheit 451. Den her ret underlige smøre:

"It is computed that eleven thousand persons have at several times suffered death rather than submit to break eggs at the smaller end." Mildred sat across the hall from him. "What does it mean? It doesn’t mean anything! The Captain was right!"

Det gav sgu heller ikke meget mening for mig. Jeg kan bare ret godt lide når det ikke giver mening. Men jeg lagde det op på mastodon, og en kammesjuk fra studiet svarede at det er fra Gulliver's Travels.

Det handler om big-endian vs. little endian. Eller bare endianness. Hvilket handler om hvordan bytes bliver vægtet i en adresse.

Anyway, kampen i Gulliver's Travels handler om hvordan man deler eller åbner et æg - altså fra den lille ende eller den store:

It began upon the following occasion. It is allowed on all hands, that the primitive way of breaking eggs before we eat them, was upon the larger end: but his present Majesty's grandfather, while he was a boy, going to eat an egg, and breaking it according to the ancient practice, happened to cut one of his fingers. Whereupon the Emperor his father published an edict, commanding all his subjects, upon great penalties, to break the smaller end of their eggs. The people so highly resented this law, that our Histories tell us there have been six rebellions raised on that account, wherein one Emperor lost his life, and another his crown. These civil commotions were constantly formented by the monarchs of Blefuscu, and when they were quelled, the exiles always fled for refuge to that Empire. It is computed, that eleven thousand persons have, at several times, suffered death, rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end. Many hundred large volum[e]s have been published upon this controversy: but the books of the Big-Endians have been long forbidden, and the whole party rendered incapable by law of holding employments. During the course of these troubles, the emperors of Blefuscu did frequently expostulate by their ambassadors, accusing us of making a schism in religion, by offending against a fundamental doctrine of our great prophet Lustrog, in the fifty fourth chapter of the Brundecral (which is their Alcoran). This, however, is thought to be a mere strain upon the text: for their words are these; That all true believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end: and which is the convenient end, seems, in my humble opinion, to be left to every man's conscience, or at least in the power of the chief magistrate to determine.

Altså 6 oprør og et par døde kejsere og 11000 henrettede senere. Og Mildred har ret, det giver ikke så meget mening.