Nature begins again (thought 121)
Thinking the mystery of life through mathematics.
Text of the “thought 121” by Blaise Pascal
Text located on page 423 of the original manuscript.
Nature always starts over again the same things, years, days, hours; spaces, likewise, and numbers are end to end one after the other. Thus a kind of infinite and eternal is made. It is not that there is anything infinite, eternal about all this, but these finite beings multiply infinitely. So it seems to me that only the number that multiplies them is infinite.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was a philosopher, engineer and mathematician of genius. Among other major scientific and philosophical advances, in 1645 he invented and built the first mechanical calculating machine, laying the concrete foundations of computer science.
The “Pensées” are a collection of very short texts, divided into numerous themes, which were found after Blaise Pascal’s death. The “Pensées” are Blaise Pascal’s most illustrious, striking and accessible work.
These films, directed by Benoît Labourdette, are based on the principle of choosing a “Thought”, and creating images, sounds, music, rhythm, life, architecture and imagination to showcase it. The film is there to propose discovery and invite personal philosophical thought, based on Blaise Pascal’s fulgurances. Each film is accompanied by the full text of the “Thought” chosen, and sometimes by a text of my own, to make the link with our contemporary reality.
On June 19, 2023, we celebrate the 400th anniversary of Blaise Pascal’s birth. These films are a form of homage to this thinker who, for me, speaks profoundly to our contemporary issues.
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Light in a window A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’06s, 1999-2019).
A contemplative journey through the energy of light, between nature and electronics. -
Living heart of the machine Series of 85 photographs of a new life form.
The machine, or machines, are now, and have been for a long time in fact, in mechanical life. They are the lungs of our lives: electricity, (…) -
Fractal Calligrammes
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Natural Calligrams
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Is nature a computer system? Hypothesis for a digital naturalism.
The philosopher Mark Alizart, in “Celestial Computing” (2017), explores the idea that nature is computing, bringing together the living (DNA, (…)