Computers

[LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu]

Penny Padgett asks:
"Is there anything in the texts that suggests what Pynchon's attitude
is towards computers in general?"

I'm not too sure about the other works (I'd need to re-parse VINELAND
especially), but in COL49 Oedipa tries to find some way out of getting
 caught between the binary choices of 0 and 1 in computer code--which is
what all this internet stuff--and everything associated with it--boils down
to at last.  Given that scientists know suggest that the human brain is
wired in a similar way (on/off, yes/no circuits), he might be pondering
the possibilities of ever getting around those binaries.

Here's where deconstruction might be of interest to TRP, since Derrida is out
to show that every binary opposition is a stacked deck to begin with.

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)