I have never seen so many articles on Jorge Luis Borges' birthday as this year, when Google decided to honor the day by displaying a dedicated logo. Yet, made by Google – whose search text field could be seen as a realization of Borges'aleph, an orb that provides a view on everything in the world – is a very appropriate tribute.

Borges' short tales, especially those in the Labyrinth collection, present us with an incredible series of visions that can be read as anticipations of how the internet has changed the world. The fascinating thing is that Borges, unlike your typical sci-fi author, did not describe a new society transformed by technical advancements but societies or individuals that could neither belong to his contemporary world nor be foreseen by applying a linear pattern of reasoning about what the future could bring. Just like in Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, his most stunning vision: a world where the body of knowledge has been replaced with the contents of a huge encyclopedia, written collectively by men; none of the changes happen because of advancements in science or technology, but because of the progressive infiltration of a new order of things through language and storytelling.