Tweet from David Grann (@DavidGrann)

[Paul Gaver]

*the life sciences 

Sent from my iPad

> On May 7, 2014, at 21:02, Paul Gaver <pauljgaver at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Re Monte's question about the dearth of evolutionary concerns in Pynchon's work...
> 
> In his introduction to Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Ian Hacking points out the following: "Both men [Kuhn and Karl Popper] took physics as the for all the sciences and formed their ideas in the aftermath of relativity and quanta. The sciences look different today. In 2009 the 150th anniversary of Darwin's The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was celebrated with great fanfare. With all the books, shows, and festivals, I suspect that many bystanders, if asked what was the most revolutionary scientific work of all time, would very reasonably have answered The Origin of Species." Just a little further down the page, he says that "... the sciences have replaced physics as top dog..." (xv). 
> 
> The first edition of Structure came out in 1962, the year before V was published. TRP spent his formative years, and the years he was most entrenched in the scientific community, during a time when physics was "queen of the sciences" (ix). This might account for the Physical science orientation of his work, and for the relative dearth of evolutionary themes. 
> 
> Then again, that fact that TRP wrote a book like BE at the age of 76 attests to his ability to stay on the ball... 
> 
>      -PG
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On May 7, 2014, at 20:08, Doc Sportello <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Not sure I'm bursting any balloons but it reminds me of this barrage from BE:
>> 
>> "...a music track including Motor City psychobilly Elvis Hitler, at the moment singing the Green Acres theme to the tune of "Purple Haze" and providing Maxine an unmeasured moment of nostalgia so unlikely that she begins to feel targeted personally."
>> 
>> It's when I realized (probably something you all realized much sooner but I'm a newb, so what?) that a problem with reading Pynchon is, for me anyway, pretty much everything reminds me of Pynchon now.
>> 
>> Okay, puncture my fan balloon. Why is this discovery not ANOTHER example of TRP's genius?
>> 
>>  I see Gregori with his eyes. 
>> 
>> Okay, puncture my fan balloon. Why is this discovery not ANOTHER example of TRP's genius? 
>> 
>>  I see Gregori with his eyes. 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Wed, May 7, 2014 at 10:03 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 	David Grann (@DavidGrann)
>>> 5/7/14, 9:30 AM
>>> BEST NEWS OF THE DAY: HUMANS AND SQUID EVOLVED SAME EYES USING SAME GENES: buff.ly/1skdm7l h/t @digg
>>> 
>>> Download the official Twitter app here
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
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