human_eye.txt

human_eye.txt
Source:	lit_arch
Date:	1872 CE
Area:	Star World C

human_eye.txt is a text document stored in terminal C08 in Star World C.

Contents

What is a man's eye but a machine for the little creature that sits behind in his brain to look through? [ARCHIVE: 1872CE-F553] [BUTLER, SAMUEL] 65 76 65 72 79 74 68 69 6E 67 20 77 6F 75 6C 64 20 61 70 70 65 61 72 20 74 6F 20 6D 61 6E 20 61 73 20 69 74 20 69 73

Is it man's eyes, or is it the big seeing-engine which has revealed to us the existence of worlds beyond worlds into infinity?  What has made man familiar with the scenery of the moon, the spots on the sun, or the geography of the planets?  He is at the mercy of the seeing-engine for these things, and is powerless unless he tacks it on to his own identity, and make it part and parcel of himself.

Notes

• The text originates from Chapter 24 of the 1872 book Erewhon by English writer Samuel Butler, which itself originated from the article "Darwin among the Machines", published in 1863.

• The encoded text comes from the poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by English poet William Blake.