GRGR (5) PK

[ginnetti]

David Morris wrote:

> Michael Perez wrote:
> >>I don't think Roger has any real illusions of control (he leaves that
>
> Paul Mackin:
> >Roger's notion of control would be to control for random error and
> >sampling variability.
>
>                         P.
>
> When this group, Pointy, Mexico, et al. embark on this new experiment they
> are all comromising their avowed values.  Everyone knows they're breaking
> their own rules, which aren't getting them anywhere when it comes to
> Slothrop, so they all make a deal with the devil and turn away from their
> individual "morals."

I like Paul's comment, but I think this is a Pynchonian shell game of sorts
too.  Taken to a logical extreme, the realization of Pointsman's project
would, in a certain sense, be the end of even Pavlovian control:

Pointsman to Mexico:
"'Pavlov believed that the ideal, the end we all struggle toward in science,
is the true mechanical explanation.  He was realistic enough not to expect it
in his lifetime.  Or in several lifetimes more.  But his hope was for a long
chain of better and better approximations.  His faith ultimately lay in a pure
physiological basis for the life of the psyche.  No effect without cause, and
a clear train of linkages." (89.1-7)

To me this rhymes with Darwinism and genetics ("not to expect this in his . .
. or several lifetimes," "long chain," "train of linkages") -- a psychological
gene therapy.  So is the control in nature or in an agent's ability to
manipulate this technology.  TRP is clearly contextualizing Pointsman's remark
within a political context; the preceding sentence sets up thus: "But
[Pointsman] glances sharply at this young anarchist in his red scarf."  So, I
also wonder if this serves as a metaphor for understanding history.