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Instructions of Shuruppak – Ancient Sumerian Father/Son Advice.

The earliest know edition of the The Instructions of Shuruppak was written between 2,600 to 2,500 BCE. An example of Sumerian wisdom literature, it is one of the earliest examples of literature known to man.

One translation of this list of good advice from royal father to son, is sourced from the below and attributed to Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998:

http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/texts/life/instructionshruppak.html

This second translation is from the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature at Oxford University. It makes accessible over 400 literary works composed in the Sumerian language in ancient Mesopotamia during the late third and early second millennia BC.

http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5/tr561.htm.

 

 

The awards and rewards of grasping infinity

We may “know” infinity.

From a 2017 opinion article by the editorial board of CSMonitor:

A discovery in theoretical math, by two mathematicians in 2016, illustrates a steadily growing  recognition among scholars that infinity may be knowable.

The award, called the Hausdorff medal, was given to Maryanthe Malliaris of the University of Chicago and Saharon Shelah of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Rutgers University for a 2016 paper in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society.”

The two scholars solved a problem that has stumped mathematicians for seven decades: whether two variations of infinity expressed in sets of numbers are the same . . . .

Says the opinion piece: “By its very nature, infinity is inexhaustible and has been a source of wonder since ancient times. The desire to grasp infinity has contributed to progress in many fields, from science to religion. In fact, the ability to come up with new understandings about reality may itself be infinite.”

For the entire article visit the link below.

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2017/0919/The-awards-and-rewards-of-grasping-infinity?cmpid=FB