IVIV (12): 195-197

[John Carvill]

<<
Tore:

 In M&D, for instance, Mason rages against the bloody
Mills (313) which steal the work from the proud British workers,
whereas Dixon points out that Engines can sometimes also remove
the need for slave labor (697).
>>

Yes, and sometimes the thing that makes a technology 'bad' is the same
thing that makes it 'good. In fact it's often the irony of that
contradiction which makes the matter so interesting. I think Pynchon
is ambivalent about a lot of things. HIs work is full of dualities.
And technology is just one of the more important ambivalences that run
through his work.

Lots of handy aide-memoires here:

http://www.thomaspynchon.com/gravitys-rainbow/extra/technology.html

Particularly:

"But Technology, alas, braid-crowned and gold-thighed maiden, always
comes up for grabs like this."


> Tore:
> Machines are bad, but sometimes they're not so bad.

O-or, machines are good, but sometimes they're not so good. Well, no,
that would be stretching it way too far. My own, utterly unscientific,
memory-based impression of Pynchon's general attitude to technology,
is that on the approval/distrust scale, his needle would balance out
over on the distrust side. So, he's ambivalent, but erring on the side
of caution.