Cycles

[LOT64 at aol.com]

In a message dated 95-05-30 10:14:47 EDT, you quote:

>	Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is 
>		transformation.  Everything science has taught me, and 
>		continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the 	
>		continuity of our spiritual existence after death.


Bonnie,
     I have always interpreted the Von Braun quote above as an ironic comment
by Pynchon.  Von Braun, by helping develop ICBM's, is one of Them.  He's
someone so blinded by the control and power that  science gives us that he
cannot see what he is really doing.  His work on the Rocket made possible the
threat of nuclear annhiliation that we were all living under in the post-war
era. (hopefully to a lesser extent now)  The irony of the Von Braun quote is
that his work has made the possibility of the extinction of all life
frighteningly real.  This kind of unthinking devotion to Science without any
thought to its consequences is what Pynchon is saying will bring us to
extinction.  Von Braun's blithe dismissal of the possibility of extinction
and his touching faith in spiritual existence after death is especially
piquant in the light of his contributions to the possibility of the
extinction of us all.

I can see the "beautifully transcendent" nature of the quote, but only if it
is totally divorced from its context.  I always read it with a laugh that
only partially covers the chill.

                                           Ron Churgin