MDMD(4) p.123 small re-write

[Matthew P Wiener]

David Casseres writes:

>But look out.  Chaos theory is destined to surpass Special Relativity
>and even Quantum Uncertainty as the most misapprehended and
>badly-used scientific metaphor of our century, precisely because it
>*is* closely and visibly connected to our everyday experience of Real
>(tm) Life.  Already, math-literate wags make jokes like "Oh, he's
>been completely non-linear ever since he read The Crying of Lot 49,"
>[...]

Actually, I've come across "non-linear" in literary contexts at
least ten years ago.  I remember one such usage (but not where or
even on what) especially well.  It was about "non-linear time",
and it took me forever to figure out that the writer simply meant
"circular time".  Sheesh.

"Non-linear" in the sense of "way out of proportion" has been
around for quite a way, from engineer/hacker slang.  I vaguely
recall THE NEW HACKER'S DICTIONARY describing this.
--
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba at sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)