The Codification of Legend

(2^ (64) - 1 )

Epigraphic Note: For those of you with the advanced mathematical ability required to solve the above equation, you know that the sum it equals out to is an incredibly large one.  In fact, the computational effort required to solve the above equation has a great deal to do with my topic for this week’s post, but for those of us who are only able to see the above written numbers as so many arbritary symbols embedded on a page, just know that this equation just serves as one more cultural scheme in the interest of codifying legend...

We will return to the equation momentarily, but for now I’d like to discuss some of the reasons that this type of formula is so vitally important to human understanding.  Katherine Hayles lays out a very informative and convincing discussion on the subject of code’s proper placement within the framework of the formerly recognized communicative legacy systems of speech and writing.  There were some particularly interesting moments in her writing when she compared binary digits (the smallest meaningful units of computer code in this case) to Derrida’s gram (the smallest meaningful unit of written language).  Here, Hayles discusses the material constraints of the sign and points out a sort of standard deviation for meaningful units that can be arrived at by discerning the range of significance a particular sign can convey.  The binary number makes for a good example here because, as she points out in her example of the transistor to transistor logic chips that used 0 for no voltage and the digit 1 to signify five volts,  the range for error here can be very vast when dealing with complex computations.  This really works to bring home the idea of how slippery the slope of signification actually is, and it is quite fascinating.  After reading Hayles, I stumbled onto a certain Indian legend that seems to further emphasize some of her points, and I think its interesting to think of this little myth as a provocative supplement to Hayles groundbreaking scholarship.

Here’s a link to the Wikipedia version of the legend.  This version is very brief but sums the myth up well.  Please click the link and read the brief passage under the heading “Legend of the Ambalappuzha Paal Paayasam”

<a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambalappuzha>Wiki

(The above image is of a Chaturanga board.  This is the game the ancient Indians would have been playing and represents what experts beleive to be the oldest existing of all chess-type games.  The board is the same as a normal chess board but notice the different pieces.  All of them are pretty much the same except the elephants that are right beside the knights on each side have replace the more modern game's bishop piece)

     And so, the mystery of the equation is revealed, and isn’t it ironic that the critical importance of this type of computational skill would be written long before the equation in our epigraph was ever originally conceptualized.  Isn’t it amazing that within the phase space of a simple 8 square x 8 square board, 64 total space, such variance and potential immensity can be observed by applying that most confounding and awe-inspiring variable: human thought in the form of an applicable quantitative theory. 

      The more interesting thing here, however, is at how many levels this codification works.  This is just one code within many, so to speak. Consider, the doubling equation used to dupe the king in the story as a device that the author embeds for the sake of furthering an intent, which makes up the second code I’d like to identify. The authorial intent here would be a codified system of symbolic values constructed in the human mind to convey the themes of the text being written.  The third code, would be found within the attachment of the myth to the nutritional material of the special rice pudding.  The fact that the sage (Krishna) provides sustenance to the villagers (pudding) by utilizing vastly complex computational skill (the 64 square doubling equation), which suggests an epistemological argument of knowledge as power.  In this case, skill at calculation equates to the citizenry’s most valuable skill, at least when it comes to them gaining the upperhand in situations where governmental authority is dominant.