..Not in the least bit Pynchonic -- space

[Ian Livingston]

Thanks, Laura. As my footer says, I have no idea about the ultimates.

On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 3:56 PM,  <malignd at aol.com> wrote:
> Lot of clarification behind a rhetorical question.
>
> It was a rhetorical question.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kelber <kelber at mindspring.com>
> To: pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Thu, Feb 9, 2012 6:54 pm
> Subject: Re: ..Not in the least bit Pynchonic -- space
>
> It was a rhetorical question.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: malignd at aol.com
> Sent: Feb 9, 2012 5:55 PM
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: ..Not in the least bit Pynchonic -- space
>
> Granted the solar system model is simplistic, but are atoms real?  Aside
> from "atoms" being a word/construct, as, I suppose, is "real, doesn't the
> splitting and fusing of atoms to create bombs show that  atoms are "real"?
>
> Are atoms real?  We can infer their structure, but
> not view it directly.  The model that many of us here were raised on, the
> solar
> system analog, is just plain wrong.  Still, it was an introduction, a useful
> crutch, to get us (as school kids) thinking about atoms.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kelber <kelber at mindspring.com>
> To: pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Tue, Feb 7, 2012 1:21 pm
> Subject: Re: ..Not in the least bit Pynchonic -- space
>
> But how real is the real?  Are atoms real?  We can infer their structure,
> but
> not view it directly.  The model that many of us here were raised on, the
> solar
> system analog, is just plain wrong.  Still, it was an introduction, a useful
> crutch, to get us (as school kids) thinking about atoms.  The quantum model
> may
> be closer to reality, but it "feels" much more abstract. Imagining a
> two-dimensional world is beyond our abilities, but only if we think about it
> too
> much.  If we accept it, at face value, as a Flatlands-style flat world, then
> it's a useful crutch for thinking about the concept of dimensions.
>
> Laura
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
>>Sent: Feb 7, 2012 10:59 AM
>>To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>Subject: Re: ..Not in the least bit Pynchonic -- space
> ace, the same you?
>>
>>What I am saying here is just that the real trumps the mathematical model,
>> That
> the coordinate system of thought , for example, has qualities that don't
> accord
> with actual space-time qualities as they can be experienced and
> experimentally
> tested.
>



-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant