TRP***GR**Singularity?

[János Széky]

I think the "Heart-to-Heart, Man-to-Man" subchapter in GR, Pt4 (shooting
"waves" into head) is crucial. It seems to describe the transition from the
60s drug culture to a digital culture that we happen to live in. If anyone,
Pynchon could well have been aware of the first steps towards the Internet
in California (as recalled in Inherent Vice).

2017-07-18 0:21 GMT+02:00 Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>:

> My word "longer" was the wrong choice my meaning. I sorta meant longer
> back in conceptual time ...which deeper-bred also
> Meant to convey.
> But who knows. My projection maybe.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jul 17, 2017, at 2:56 PM, Paul Cray <pmcray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> It is much more likely that Vinge got it from GR and P could easily have
> come up with the AI/biotech juxtaposition for himself. There's a lot more
> to the Luddite essay than that, natch, although the novelette version of
> "Blood Music" is a strong story. Curiously, Doris Lessing was a big Greg
> Bear fan.
>
> On 17 July 2017 at 19:51, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I know a little about Vinge and his work and  I doubt the social circles
>> speculation ...or we would have heard something?
>>
>> We know he has read SF but still? Luddite essay seems  longer and
>> deeper-bred to me.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Jul 17, 2017, at 2:37 PM, Paul Cray <pmcray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I was very struck by the constant use of the term when I read GR in 2009.
>> I have often wondered whether Pynchon knew Vinge in SoCal. As far as I
>> know, Vinge first uses the S-word in "Marooned in Realtime" (1986), but
>> it's entirely possible that either Vinge got the word from Pynchon (via GR
>> or personal contact) or P got it from V in sf circles in SoCal in the late
>> 1960s/early 1970s. I suppose it is more likely V got it from P, but it is
>> interesting that they were both in SoCal at the same time and might well
>> have had overlapping social circles.
>>
>> The famous statement about AI and biotech in the Luddism article always
>> make me think that P might just have read Greg Bear's "Blood Music" in its
>> original novelette form, which is a seminal Singularitarian text, although
>> the S-word is not used. There's also plenty of Singularitarian subtext in
>> AtD, although I don't recall the S-word itself being used much if at all.
>>
>> On 17 July 2017 at 19:36, Paul Cray <pmcray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I was very struck by the constant use of the term when I read GR in
>>> 2009. I have often wondered whether Pynchon knew Vinge in SoCal. As far as
>>> I know, Vinge first uses the S-word in "Marooned in Realtime" (1986), but
>>> it's entirely possible that either Vinge got the word from Pynchon (via GR
>>> or personal contact) or P got it from V in sf circles in SoCal in the late
>>> 1960s/early 1970s. I suppose it is more likely V got it from P, but it is
>>> interesting that they were both in SoCal at the same time and might well
>>> have had overlapping social circles.
>>>
>>> The famous statement about AI and biotech in the Luddism article always
>>> make me think that P might just have read Greg Bear's "Blood Music" in its
>>> original novelette form, which is a seminal Singularitarian text, although
>>> the S-word is not used. There's also plenty of Singularitarian subtext in
>>> AtD, although I don't recall the S-word itself being used much if at all.
>>>
>>> On 16 July 2017 at 13:00, da kid <peterock86 at live.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Was Pynchon aware of the technological singularity back in the early
>>>> 70s? I know there are gravitational singularities and others, not just the
>>>> Kurzweil one and it has been awhile since I finished GR. However, with all
>>>> it's concerns with predestination, the end of history(?) and so forth it
>>>> makes me wonder. Also, I recall two scenes in particular that are towards
>>>> the end of the book. One is the scene about the rich guy practicing the
>>>> Masonic ritual stuff to try to transcend to a higher dimension. The other
>>>> is the lecture by is it Kekule? about the move from organic to inorganic
>>>> chemistry. From Carbon to silicon. Not to mention all the times P talks
>>>> about "singularities." Has this already been discussed to death here?
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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