The Lottery in Babylon

Metadata

• Media: #shortstory
  • Author: [[!Jorge Luis Borges]]
  • From: B-Ficciones
  • Status: read
  • Date: 2020-08-21
  • Tags: #fantasy #worldbuilding
  • Rating: ★★★★☆
  • Idea richness: ★★★★☆

Summary

A city which runs on a mandatory lottery. Can see yourself ruling the council or sentenced to horrible death. From humble beginnings, chance begins to consume more and more of life in Babylon until even the lottery results must be rolled again in an infinite string of further random details.

Thoughts

The concept is BRILLIANT. As a story, it's perhaps less enthralling as its more a detailling and commentary on the lottery system (and themes of chance and reality) than a plot which uses that device.

Or maybe the higher level commentary on chance and reality just went over my head.

Scrapbook Concepts

• A city which runs on a mandatory lottery. Can see yourself ruling the council or sentenced to horrible death.
• Rectangles made of bone