Prosthetic Paradise (was Re: pynchon-l-digest V2 #1012

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

rj wrote:
> 
> I have to agree with Frodeaux and David here.
> 
> > A pen is just like a
> > finger?
> 
> Yes. Each can communicate human thought. Each can poke you in the eye.

I can poke a man in the eye with a duck and I can
communicate human thought with my eye. A pen is just like a
finger, a duck, an eye, ....?

Nonsense, how are they all just like a pen? 


> 
> > Humans make and use tools, they are
> > not born with them.
> 
> They are not born with hand-eye coordination or language or morality
> either. These are "acquired" characteristics, just like the ability to
> use and modify technology.
> 
> > but you are not born with
> > tools,
> 
> Indeed you are: they are inherited from previous generations. They are
> already made and their uses have been circumscribed. Humans no longer
> fashion tools to help them better adapt to their individual environment.
> The tools are in place, and have altered irrevocably the very conditions
> of human survival. In fact, it is humans who now have to learn to adapt
> to a technological environment. In a very real way the balance between
> man and machine has shifted.

Now we add a different meaning. Humans are not born with
tools as part of their biology. This was the claim being
made, a finger is a tool. Humans are born into an
environment that has tools. They do not "inherit" tools as
they inherit fingers. Yes, the use of tools has been
circumscribed, but being human we are not bound by these. A
hammer may be used to kill, to build, to communicate, to
prop up one's head like a pillow, to turn the pages of a
book, as a sexual toy, and so on, humans are quite
inventive, curious too, and although their use of a
particular tool is often circumscribed, this does not
prevent an individual from making a new tool (think of how
many tools a carpenter will make in a week)or changing an
old one to meet a new  need or want. I clothes hanger may be
used to open a locked door or pull a man out of danger.
Humans continue to fashion tools to better adapt to their
environment. A good carpenter makes tools all the time,
unhappy with manufactured tools, he also refashions them to
meet his need or wants and uses tools designed for one
purpose for another purpose never considered by the designer
of the tool. These are both important points, but you over
state them. In both cases ("inherited circumscribed tools)
and (the fashioning of tools to adapt) profound differences
are notable, say from "man the tool maker and user" to "man
the machine maker and user", but to say that man does not
still fashion tools to adapt and create them to serve his
current needs and wants is not accurate. 


> 
> > Having a pacemaker or dentures or an artificial heart does
> > not make my mother a robot anymore than having a baboons
> > heart make my son a baboon.
> 
> This is spurious. Have you not read *V.*, the parable about the Bad
> Priest of Valetta?
> 
> best

You know I have and that is why I am arguing the points I
am. These are Pynchon's claims! Why don't we discuss some
examples from GR or any other Pynchon book or essay and I
will support my position with his texts. 

Best,

Terrance