Skinner, Pointman, Freedom?

[Paul Mackin]

On Mon, 2004-11-08 at 12:15, Joseph Tracy wrote:
> I think Paul's arguments hold up  well as a criticism of a false
> opposition in GR. P is cheating a bit. But Pynchon may be more
> interested in reflecting an argument taking place in the newly
> emerging influence of a kind of digital world view, pointing  as it
> were toward the yet unforseen logical implications of Pointsman's
> science. Having considered Skinner and his question not whether
> machines think , but whether man thinks; he seems to be pointing out
> that this kind of thinking is the logical implication of the binary
> interpretaion of cell activities.  The complexity of the input and the
> processing may make the response follow a  probability curve, but the
> underlying implication for the control personality is that behavior,
> given enough data, is predictable,  and therefor controllable. The
> Machiavellians at the helm of the  current american experimant in
> fascism are working both the pavlovian and probab! ility tools to
> remarkable effect,  partly by simply calling what they do freedom. 
> 

Interesting.

 
The machine/man comparison is important. Machines don't "think" in the
same way humans do but humans are quite capable of thinking like
machines. They can program themselves to think like machines and they
can program other men to think that way too. It is very natural for
Pynchon to want to contrast thinking that is exclusively human with this
machine-like, programmatic, results-oriented thinking that has become
such a factor of modernity. The possibilities for dramatic conflict are
immense. Anyway, the imagery that suggested itself to Pynchon for the
rising trend of modernity, with greater and greater mastery, knowledge,
predictability, finally even certainty of outcome, was the arrogant
operant conditioner, of Grigori and others, Pointsman. And, as the
opposing image, one of an older more human order, a humble, by
definition never-certain-of-anything, statistician, Roger Mexico.

Of course men even when thinking like machines are not machines. Even
for Karl Rove the certainty of outcome was not that of a well programed
digital computer.  



> Joseph Tracy
> brook7 at earthlink.net
> Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.
>  
>