L.E.D. (spoiler 200+)

[Deng, Stephen]

This passage could refer to fractals, but it sounds more like atoms to me. 
 The missing piece of information is whether these patterns look exactly 
like the macro version, which at least from your quotes (I haven't yet 
gotten to this part), seems not to be there.  The amazing aspect of an atom 
is that it is made up of mostly nothingness, like the bread.  Subatomic 
particles are sparse, yet their "probabilistic" properties miraculously 
provide density to matter.



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From:  michael.mcaulay at 3do.com[SMTP:michael.mcaulay at 3do.com]
Sent:  Thursday, May 08, 1997 5:40 PM
To:  pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject:  Re: L.E.D. (spoiler 200+)

MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu wrote:

> The larger question is--is  there a pattern of undeniably contemporary
> scientific ideas, language, etc. coded in throughout  M & D similar to 
these
> two examples (assuming the L.E.D. strikes you as persuasive)?  Has 
anyone
> else found any?

I've been thinking about this too.  Pynchon is known for incorporating
technical and scientific material in his work.  He has been (presumably)
working on M & D for 20+ years.  There have been tremendous technical
and scientific advances during those years.  I found myself wondering if
at any point he'd fastened on to a new idea and found himself needing to
go back and modify the work-in-progress to incorporate said idea.

In particular (to get to your question) the (amazing, stupendous,
my-favorite-so-far) bread passage from pp 204-206 which includes the
following:

"the small cavities within exhibiting a strange complexity, their pale
Walls, to appearance smooth, proving, upon magnification, to be made up
of even smaller bubbles, and, one may presume, so forth, down to the
Limits of the Invisible.  The Loaf, the indispensible point of
convergence upon every British table, the solid British Quartern Loaf,
is mostly, like the Soul, Emptiness."

Sounds like a fractal to me.  And there's another fractal ref around
page 400 or so (can't dig it up at the moment) where a shoreline is said
to have infinite length (?? paraphrasing).  And now that I think of it
there's this bit from pp 389-390: "...yet have we ever sought to produce
these thin Sheets innumerable, to spread a given Volume as close to pure
Surface as possible, whilst on route discovering various new forms..."

Now fractals were discovered (or invented if you prefer) in the early
60's I believe, but didn't emerge from mathematical obscurity until the
late 70's/early 80's (if anyone reading has a firmer grasp on this stuff
please chime in).  So...I wonder when TP first learned of 'em?

The other Big Idea of the last couple decades is of course the computer,
and especially the Net.  Again, it's been around longer than 20 years
but has certainly only exploded into prominence in that time.

Oh, and Chaos theory (kissing cousin of the fractal).  Am I missing
anything?

--
Mike McAulay
Sr. Engineer
3DO