/lit/ - Literature

Though, none of those events ever actually occurred, if I were to choose, I would pick The Library of Borges, though, even though you did not state that as an option, and that, the answer, is my final answer, which is in response to the question, a query, indeed, or no?

>>5598931
Alexandria.

Holocaust because I'm not an edgy teen.

hard question
i mean i hate jews and holocaust gave them so much power

>>5598951
I don't think Israel would have existed otherwise, and our overall situation in the Middle East would be radically different.

>>5598931
I chose to do nothing because I'm not sure how any of these subtractions will effect history.

>>5598972
This is the best answer. Because I know from Bradbury that if we changed something in history via time travel or hypotheticals that. Hitler would have been victorious. We would be slaves, creating cubes of granite for His God-King. Heil, heil.

>>5598931
isn't that the girl who got her face punched up and thrown out of a car?

>>5598972
>effect
gr8

>>5598931
>the destruction of indigenous Americas writings and art by the Spaniards

This. They were a sophisticated people.

>>5599007
The first option includes all of the preventions. It's two options.

>>5598950
>I disagree therfore it's edgy
Fuck off

>>5599007
>butthurt savage

I'd say Holocaust.

>>5598951
what teh fuck kitty
captcha: masonry, i'm not lying

>>5599023
He wasn't talking about the Spanish.

>>5599007
>>5598931
>he destruction of indigenous Americas writings and art by the Spaniards.

I'm not going to defend what the Spaniards did, but are you forgetting that the cultures about half of the Americas (the north) were destroyed by the forefathers of current US citizens? In fact, in the so-called Latin America there's at least remnants of their culture left, namely food, music to a certain extent, art, even some languages...and most importantly, the actual natives are not just a handful that are kept in a reserve. They're the people ruling their countries. On the other hand, what's there left in North America? Nothing. A whole continent full of cultures wiped out with no trace left whatsoever.

>>5599030
because there was nothing to destroy. they had no written languages or cities. spaniards systematically destroyed whole cities and burned every shred of written material from the south.

Rhianna's sexy

>>5599034
>there was nothing to destroy
>no written languages or cities means no culture, no literature, no art, no languages

I hope you understand how wrong you are.

>>5599061
He's somewhat correct, the Aztecs had libraries and a philosophical tradition that fragments survive of, there was no system writing in North America, and there was certainly nothing to compare to the grandeur of Aztec architecture.

Some North American tribes were quite sophisticated, in that they had irrigation and farming and large states, the Iroquois being a particular example, but they aren't really comparable to the Aztecs.

History is a chain of events and the history of philosophy is chain of ideas. Ideas influence events and vice versa. Saving the Library of Alexandria would change the nature of Christianity in the 16th century and ethnic nationalism in the 20th century.

>>5599133
>Saving the Library of Alexandria would change the nature of Christianity in the 16th century and ethnic nationalism in the 20th century.
In what way?

>>5599085

Of course, Aztecs were an actual civilization. But again, there are remnants of that culture at least. North America on the other hand, is a huge continent that was full of absolutely different cultures and languages, and there's no single trace of that left nowadays.

The key here is that the Spaniards wanted colonies for their empire, i.e. a place from which they could get all their riches while making locals work for them. In North America, the white wanted to *live* in that land, so they took it away from the locals and wiped them out. Which is why America is extremely poor when it comes to tradition and culture and has barely any gastronomy of their own, whereas Mexico is still full of ancient culture and every smal region has their own speciality dish.

>>5598944
imblying

>>5598931
Lib of Alexandria
>nothing of value is lost for the other ones

>>5598931
library.
some other faggot would start some other modern holocaust on somebody somewhere either way.
at least we'd have the books.

>>5598931
holocaust
the jews would have assimilated and we'd be on mars by now
as it stands, the jews are paranoid and wasting their brains on capital so as to make sure they never find themselves in a supplicant position again
holocaust, whether you hate jews, love jews, or don't care, the only right answer is that the holocaust was fucking stupid and horrible

>>5599061
all i said was no written language or cities so your second greentext there is bullshit. they didn't write things down. that's what this thread is about.

If I'm safe from temporal waves then probably the Library of Alexandria. The resulting change to history would probably prevent the holocaust as well.

>>5599309
>The resulting change to history would probably prevent the holocaust as well.
Why do you say that?

obviously prevent the burning of the Alexandria library. this is the only one that has things worthwhile. anyone who says otherwise is a white guilt faggot (or a jew of course)

>>5599197
I'm not sure you understand. Native Americans are common as duck here, they've just been interbred with every other single imaginable race that they have become homogenized. Most of America is really. It's rare to see any type of pure blood outside of specefic areas. There is a reason the US was called the melting pot.
Also what ar Cajuns for 500

>>5599312
If a specific sperm and egg have to meet to create a specific individual then changing something in the past would mean Hitler is never born. Well probably, anyways.

>>5599318
Why do you think the Holocaust required Hitler's birth? It wasn't even his idea.

I don't see how the Library of Alexandria would affect the lineage Hitler came from, unless you think one of his ancestors would have stayed as a librarian there or something and never met his fugging partner

>>5598931
obviously the former.
is this a serious question?

>>5598931
How do you read if you shitpost?

>>5599170

Nobody knows exaclty how changing an event would impact history but we do know that it would certainly have an affect.

Art is more important than human life.

>>5599320
You haven't heard of the butterfly effect? Anybody's ancestor, Egyptian or otherwise, could spend a minute too long discussing the non-burning of the library or some text from there and get hit by a cart or something, or perhaps they miss meeting the love of their life by seconds. In turn all the people that ancestor's descendants would have influenced never are and suddenly a hundred other lines never happen. Somebody never gives inspiration to somebody influential. Somebody never forms a town, or maybe a country. Somebody never invents something. Maybe somebody does invent something. Maybe world peace is achieved and a dozen wars never happen. A million different changes ripple out from a million different changes and suddenly things are drastically different by the time things reach the modern day.

In all likelihood, the majority of individuals that exist today do not for reasons that are either minuscule or gigantic. No Hitler. No Nazis in the way we know them. No Holocaust.

>>5599347

>>5598931
>the Fires of Qin
You mean the burning of the books and burying of the scholars? Pretty sure historians are generally agreed that that didn't really happen. It was just typical 'one dynasty talking shit about the previous dynasty' propaganda.

>>5599381
If somebody didn't do something, somebody else invariably would have. It Hitler wasn't around, somebody else would've stepped up to the plate and ride the wave of German sentiment all the way to the Second World War.

Prevent the holocaust

>End up possibly preventing the absolute faggotry that is Israel from becoming a thing
>Maybe an alternate reality where reactionary thought does not carry a huge stigma gets to happen
>Save the lives of some innocent people out of all those millions

>>5599382
I am proud to be edgy, enjoy being a socialised piece of shit.

>>5599320
>Why do you think the Holocaust required Hitler's birth? It wasn't even his idea
The Nazis were very leader-centric, and by all accounts Hitler did have massive bags of charisma. Without him, they probably wouldn't have got to power/held on to power/launched the completely stupid war that ended them and led to the attempt at genocide.

>>5599391
They might well have gotten to power, they hit all the sweet spots at the right time.

>>5599388
>>Maybe an alternate reality where reactionary thought does not carry a huge stigma gets to happen
It is an interesting thought. As far as I can see the only reason Fascism failed so hard was that it lost the war. If Hitler hadn't been so damn keen on invading everyone, it might well have survived. Lord knows Italy wasn't up for much fighting in Europe.

On the other hand, militarism is obviously a major part of it, and especially with the USSR present it's hard to see how things could have gone peacefully.

>>5599347
>the will of God (by which no man defies, neither can, nor ought, be impugned)

Why was writing so autistic then?

>>5599373
There's a limited spectrum of what art can express, though obviously almost all art is unique in some interesting way. I would rather save a person because even though they will probably turn out to be an asshole, it isn't unreasonable to believe in people.

>>5599388
Think of all the future artists that were killed as well.

>>5599391
there would be another person imo
they were leader-centric but they could choose another leader if hitler was eliminated too early
their movement is the consequence of ww1, not a will of 1 person

also gansovsky wrote a sf story about it, 'demon of history', may be it's a too marxist philosophy but i personally agree with him there

>>5599397
Autism is the noblest state of humanity. The modern period is defined by the fact that it actually cares about the empty thoughts of neurotypicals.

>>5598931
Prevent the Holocaust because millions of human lives are worth more than books.

No-one except historians of antiquity would care about having the Library of Alexandria, and the 'Fires of Qin' seems to have involved mostly dynastic records. Considering what we know about manuscript traditions, it's very unlikely that a work was wiped off the face of the earth with the Library of Alexandria or House of Wisdom. Instead it took many centuries for copying of a work to stop and all the manuscripts to decay or be discarded.

On the other hand the burning of Maya and Aztec codices was a genuine loss, and ironically de Landa's writings are now one of the most important sources for our knowledge of Maya language and religious practices.

>>5599030
20th century US ethnographers did attempt to record as much of Native American traditions as they could but it was very much a mop-up operation.

>>5599405
>millions of human lives are worth more than books.
Lol fuck off faget.

>>5598931
Obviously the Holocaust, the damage it done to scientific progress of Europe and primarily Germany is unbelievable.

>>5598931
No doubt, the American indigenous writings would be the most valuable. We have, what, one or three books lefts over from them? The Greeks and Chinese have tons of other sources that helps us reconstruct the old forms of their languages. Mayans, Otomangeuans, etc. have none of that, and we can only get a glimpse into their old languages through comparative historical reconstruction.