ATD: unanswered questions #2-3

[bandwraith at aol.com]

John:

"I'm more ignorant of the scientific metaphors, but
I can't help but see ATD as the singling up of P's
increasingly explicit ponderings on Time & Light
(so general relativity, right?) with a questioning of
historiography and different modes of history writing
(esp. in M&D). I think he finally gets right the scientific
idea of emergence from GR onwards - increasingly
complex systems produce results not predictable from
their components alone. I think the books also like to
play with obsolete scientific forms of thought too,
along with other kinds of intellectual waste. But ATD
is aaaaaall about Time, surely"

I can't stop thinking about The Vormance Expedition,
especially regarding this latest CERN/LHC incident. I
mean, here are these people, geniuses without a doubt-
forget about the billions of dollars, and time, just the
huge amount of intellectual capital involved- calling
the CERN fire brigades to drive over in their trucks and
gear, the report says, to stand by, just in case things
get a little too over-heated! I'm picturing these regular
type dudes sitting around eating pizza and watching the
tube, getting the call and rushing out to the LHC with
their hard hats and hoses and stuff, and there are
these scientific types, looking sheepish, standing
around several blackboards filled with indecipherable
squiggles ending with a final "equals" sign, for the
meaning of the universe... Probably not quite like
that, but-

Regarding the use of science as metaphor, I think
it is both overt and covert. It's the covert that I
find most fascinating (maybe because I have only
enough knowledge to be fooled into thinking it's
really deep?) The use of quantum mechanics in
M&D in the framing story of the nuclear family, for
example, how much does it dictate the actions and
interactions between the characters? Of course, I
know almost nothing about quantum mechanics
except what the popularizers of science have
written, and forget the math, but I know enough
to get hooked by the language. It's like that
"wonderful Card Table" at the beginning of M&D,
"causing an illusion of Depth." I wish I could evaluate
it from a position of real understanding. Is he really
THAT good?


With ATD, I think it is String Theory, which I know
even less about than the rest of science, but I'm
still the sucker. Not just the initial "line" of the book,
but the initial set piece, beginning on p.11, when
The Chums are forced to deal with Gravity, clues my
way too receptive mind into thinking this scene has
a special metaphorical meaning, based on Strings.