Ah, that’s one other thing I remember from the story. The elimination was for four characters in a row, not three. One of the characters specifically asked another about that with “Surely you mean three?” or words to that effect. Or perhaps I’m misremembering.
As I recall, the lama (or whatever) was taking hem on a tour (or something to that approximate effect), and described what the machine wasn’t supposed to print, which included strings with four or more successive identical characters. Then one of the protagonists interrupts and says, “Surely you mean three or more times?”, and the lama says, basically, “No, I meant what I said, we’re using a different alphabet.”.
Y’know. Coop did link to the full story.
PanamaJack There is no information on how many characters are in the special alphabet. If no letter can appear more than three times in a row, the alphabet is at least two characters. I think it’s safe to set the upper limit at five thousand characters. Can anybody else narrow it down a bit?
One should note that, in the story, the computer was printing out a lot of things which were not Names of God, as well as genuine Names. The monks had worked out (by means unspecified) some necessary conditions on a Name of God, but not all of them, and so to be on the safe side, recorded every name which matched all of their criteria.
Also, “Jehovah” and “Yahweh” are not two different names, but two different renderings of the same name, which would more properly be rendered using the Hebrew Tetragrammaton (which I will not here record, both out of respect for the religious beliefs of others and out of a lack of familiarity with the Hebrew alphabet).
I thought I mentioned that.
The letters are Yod Hey Vav Hey. Keep in mind Hebrew is read from right to left so the written Name would be Hey Vav Hey Yod. With no dot, the Vav is a consonant and makes the same sound as V. With a dot over it, the Vav is a vowel making a long O sound. With a dot on the left side of it, The Vav is a vowel making an ew sound. The Vav in the Tetragrammaton has a dot over it, but also a vowel underneath it. This means that there is no proper way to pronounce it. Naturally, Jewish belief holds that speaking the name properly literally performs miracles. In Jewish thought, those four letters are the True And Ineffable Name Of G-d. All the others are just placeholders.
Whoa. :eek:
It doesn’t really say. But like virtually all SF writers of the time (up through the early 70s at least) Clarke isn’t very precient about how computers will evolve. Most stories either ignore computers or if they have them, they are just like the ones at the time the story is written. Or sometimes just bigger and a bit faster than that. So I assume that Clarke had existing printers in mind when he wrote the story.
Certainly what little we get about the computer is no better than a 50’s era calculator. For example, it’s made only to handle numbers, so it doesn’t even have a character set.
[*] The Alpha, The Omega
Surely this is more a philosophical question, with no strict answer, along the lines of “how many angels dance on the head of a pin?”
fourty-two?
Brian
What about
(Waheguruji ka Khalsa, Waheguruji ke Fateh!)
In the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, it is written that there are infinite names for God, since all who worship one creator, either as a single entity or an entity with many facets or representations are worshiping the SAME God The SGGS can be interpreted such that beings on other planets are mentioned as worshipping God, too, interestingly enough). We Sikhs believe there is no one true path to God; all are valid.
Historically speaking, Sikhism was founded in 1499 by Guru Nanak who was born Hindu but also studied Islam and was deeply spiritual. He went for his usual morning swim and never returned, after an extensive search was presumed drowned. He returned some time later much to his family’s shock but was silent for three days. His first words were “There is no Hindu nor Musalman [Muslim].” He then talked of meeting God during the time he was absent, and spent the next 20 years traveling through the Middle East and South Asia to teach about the experience.
Plus a hundredth name known only to the camel, which is why the dumb beast looks so insufferably smug. 
Yes, but he only answers to ~!@#$%^&*()_+=-`{}|":’;<>?/.
Harold.
Our Father, who art in heaven - Harold be thy name…
“Over the 50 year4s that I have subscribed to National Geographic, I have often chucked at scientists either expounding or scratching their heads over matters that have been settled for me long ago by my faith in God. Your article says, “Something out there holds swarms of galaxies together and keeps their stars from flying apart,but scientists still haven’t learned what this invisible substance is.” Although I am familiar with the many names of God, this is the first time I heard Him called Dark Matter.”
-Clyde A. Bachelor, members forum
Oh, I’ve read it. Many times. It’s one of Clarke’s better efforts, and that’s saying something.
So, even in the '50s, the support guy’s script included asking whether the thing is plugged in.
Even in the '50s, support told users to check the plug.
Sorry. I had cancelled the first post, I thought.