--- ## Genesis 11:1-9 [^G1]: ΚΑΙ ἦν πᾶσα ἡ γῆ χεῖλος ἕν, καὶ φωνὴ μία πᾶσι. καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ κινῆσαι αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, εὗρον πεδίον ἐν γῇ Σενναὰρ καὶ κατῴκησαν ἐκεῖ. Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward,[^eastward] they found a plain in Shinar[^shinar] and settled there.  וַיְהִי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, שָׂפָה אֶחָת, וּדְבָרִים, אֲחָדִים.  וַיְהִי, בְּנָסְעָם מִקֶּדֶם; וַיִּמְצְאוּ בִקְעָה בְּאֶרֶץ שִׁנְעָר, וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָׁם.[^G1] [^G2]:καὶ εἶπεν ἄνθρωπος τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ· δεῦτε πλινθεύσωμεν πλίνθους καὶ ὀπτήσωμεν αὐτὰς πυρί. καὶ ἐγένετο αὐτοῖς ἡ πλίνθος εἰς λίθον, καὶ ἄσφαλτος ἦν αὐτοῖς ὁ πηλός. καὶ εἶπαν· δεῦτε οἰκοδομήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς πόλιν καὶ πύργον, οὗ ἔσται ἡ κεφαλὴ ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ποιήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς ὄνομα πρὸ τοῦ διασπαρῆναι ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ προσώπου πάσης τῆς γῆς. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל-רֵעֵהוּ, הָבָה נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, וְנִשְׂרְפָה, לִשְׂרֵפָה; וַתְּהִי לָהֶם הַלְּבֵנָה, לְאָבֶן, וְהַחֵמָר, הָיָה לָהֶם לַחֹמֶר. וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָבָה נִבְנֶה-לָּנוּ עִיר, וּמִגְדָּל וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם, וְנַעֲשֶׂה-לָּנוּ, שֵׁם: פֶּן-נָפוּץ, עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ.[^G2] [^G3]: καὶ κατέβη Κύριος ἰδεῖν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν πύργον, ὃν ᾠκοδόμησαν οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. καὶ εἶπε Κύριος· ἰδοὺ γένος ἓν καὶ χεῖλος ἓν πάντων, καὶ τοῦτο ἤρξαντο ποιῆσαι, καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν πάντα, ὅσα ἂν ἐπιθῶνται ποιεῖν. δεῦτε καὶ καταβάντες συγχέωμεν αὐτῶν ἐκεῖ τὴν γλῶσσαν, ἵνα μὴ ἀκούσωσιν ἕκαστος τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ πλησίον. καὶ διέσπειρεν αὐτοὺς Κύριος ἐκεῖθεν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἐπαύσαντο οἰκοδομοῦντες τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν πύργον. διὰ τοῦτο ἐκλήθη τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς Σύγχυσις, ὅτι ἐκεῖ συνέχεε Κύριος τὰ χείλη πάσης τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἐκεῖθεν διέσπειρεν αὐτοὺς Κύριος ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς. But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” וַיֵּרֶד יְהוָה, לִרְאֹת אֶת-הָעִיר וְאֶת-הַמִּגְדָּל, אֲשֶׁר בָּנוּ, בְּנֵי הָאָדָם. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, הֵן עַם אֶחָד וְשָׂפָה אַחַת לְכֻלָּם, וְזֶה, הַחִלָּם לַעֲשׂוֹת; וְעַתָּה לֹא-יִבָּצֵר מֵהֶם, כֹּל אֲשֶׁר יָזְמוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת. הָבָה, נֵרְדָה, וְנָבְלָה שָׁם, שְׂפָתָם--אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ, אִישׁ שְׂפַת רֵעֵהוּ. [G3^] [^G4]: Καὶ αὗται αἱ γενέσεις Σήμ. καί ἦν Σὴμ υἱὸς ἑκατὸν ἐτῶν, ὅτε ἐγέννησε τὸν ᾿Αρφαξάδ, δευτέρου ἔτους μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμόν. καὶ ἔζησε Σὴμ μετὰ τὸ γεννῆσαι αὐτὸν τὸν ᾿Αρφαξὰδ ἔτη πεντακόσια καὶ ἐγέννησεν υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας καὶ ἀπέθανε. So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel[^babel]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. וַיָּפֶץ יְהוָה אֹתָם מִשָּׁם, עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ; וַיַּחְדְּלוּ, לִבְנֹת הָעִיר. עַל-כֵּן קָרָא שְׁמָהּ, בָּבֶל, כִּי-שָׁם בָּלַל יְהוָה, שְׂפַת כָּל-הָאָרֶץ; וּמִשָּׁם הֱפִיצָם יְהוָה, עַל-פְּנֵי כָּל-הָאָרֶץ. [^G4] [^Eastward]: [Genesis 11:2](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2011&version=NIV#en-NIV-269 "Go to Genesis 11:2") Or _from the east_; or _in the east_ [^Shinar]: [Genesis 11:2](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2011&version=NIV#en-NIV-269 "Go to Genesis 11:2") That is, Babylonia [^Babel]: [Genesis 11:9](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2011&version=NIV#en-NIV-276 "Go to Genesis 11:9") That is, Babylon; _Babel_ ([LXX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LXX "LXX"): Βαβυλών) sounds like the Hebrew for _confused_. ![[Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Tower of Babel - 1563 CE.jpg]] ## Our Universal Language In the [book of Genesis 11:1-9,](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2011%3A1-9&version=NIV) A Tower named Bab-ilu (“Gate of God”), Hebrew form [_בבל_ (Babel)](https://www.britannica.com/place/Babylon-ancient-city-Mesopotamia-Asia), is spoken of. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty tower “with its top in the heavens.” God, angered by their hubris, by their unification of communication and assimilation of culture, recognized that if successful "nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them." Angered by their hubris, he disrupted their work, turning their Babel into a Tower of [Balal.](https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/kjv/balal.html) In this parable, we learn of humanity's prowess, our technological strength, our combined potential to overcome the impossible, and the futility of our arrogance, hubris. Divine punishment or not, the rules of action and reaction, cause and effect, and emergent behaviours are absolute. The more intricate and tightly coupled our systems are built, the more unpredictable and dangerous they become—a grand house of cards waiting to fall, our very own Tower of Babel. Our universal language, mathematics used to describe and communicate the very universe has brought humanity together. Our success in overcoming the unknown, what was once deemed the impossible, has not only brought prosperity, it has allowed our leaders to make a name for themselves. [^LLMs]: In Jorge Luis Borges’ short story _The Library of Babel_, [the library](https://libraryofbabel.info/theory.html)—a metaphorical latent space—is imagined as an infinite archive containing every possible permutation of 25 symbols: 22 letters, a comma, a period, and a space. Within its shelves lie all conceivable texts: the proofs of every theorem, the cures for every disease, the answers to every question. Yet, this totality of knowledge is rendered inaccessible by its overwhelming chaos and lack of order. While the Library’s inhabitants might wander blindly or despair, hoping to stumble upon a coherent text, LLMs, when faced with a specific task, are able to dynamically create a local map, an ["orthogonal geometry of truth,"](https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.08572) within a representation of this metaphorical library. Now perhaps it's time to ask if our leaders have forgotten the simplest of lessons, those which predate calamity, those which caution how high we build our technological towers in an attempt to challenge the divine, in a hubristic condemnation of fate. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel)