SLSL quantum physics

[Terrance]

jbor wrote:
> 
> on 11/2/03 9:15 PM, Terrance at lycidas2 at earthlink.net wrote:
> 
> > There are no
> > direct references in GR or elsewhere in Pynchon's writing to quantum
> > mechanics or even allusions to the physicists whose work in the first
> > half of the century led to the creation of the atomic bombs
> 
> >From 'Low-lands' (1960):
> 
>     " ... as long as you are passive you can remain aware of the truth's
>     extent but the minute you become active you are somehow, if not
>     violating a convention outright, at least screwing up the perspective
>     of things, much as anyone observing subatomic particles changes the
>     works, data and odds, by the act of observing. ... " (p. 69)
> 
> It's about as direct a reference to quantum mechanics as you'll ever see.
> 
> best


Well, I won't quibble over the word "Direct."  Brownlie and Moore
discuss Heisenberg. This kind of allusion to the uncertainty principle,
they assert,  is not a Direct reference. Furthermore, and more
importantly, if Pynchon knows anything about QM he doesn't use that
knowledge in his fictions.