Time, Money, Shit, The Word, Inherent Vice, and...Vitamin B12?

[jody2.718]

Love this: https://inherent-vice.com/  Posted by Michel, as, "New Site on Inherent Vice"  a few days back.

it reminded me of this:

https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/content/dam/sigma-aldrich/docs/Sigma/General_Information/metabolic_pathways_poster.pdf

Which, once upon a time in med school, I pretty much had to memorize.   It's a whole lot of organic connections making me aware, not just that everything is connected, but of the counterintuitive realization that the miracle of life, in order to give the finger to "The Demon," has to "let the bad guy win every once in awhile" ( Thus sprake Billy Preston, R.I.P.)  And the clear recognition that evil is necessary, not just philosophically, for the sake of "The Good,"  but for the well-being of a complex interdependent society.  It thus re-awakened and rekindled my appreciation of Inherent Vice.

Once again, working from the assumption that nothing in Pynchon is gratuitous, it begged the question of  Dr. Buddy Tubeside- dispenser of vitamin B12 injections (and whatever else might help)- to the long line of patrons winding past "Doc" Sportello's door each morning. Just another quirky P-character, perhaps, but wait...

Ah, yes, B12. It's the most complex vitamin (definition of "vitamin"- essential nutrient, unable to be synthesized  from simpler precursors by humans). But B12 is even more significant than that. It sits at the evolutionary crossroads of plants and animals. It's not made by plants- they don't need it- they eat carbon dioxide, use sunlight to split water, and then excrete oxygen. Plants have evolved other means of performing the enzymatic functions of  B12. But B12 is absolutely essential for animals, and we are incapable of making it ourselves. We have lost the ability to synthesize it de novo.  it can only be made by bacteria. Animals are completely dependent on bacteria for their B12. The normal gut flora of animals synthesize it with ease. Cows and other ungulates chew the regurgitation from their several stomachs before they shit it out, and get B12 that way.  The bacteria in the guts of other animals, and us, also make it,  but too far down in the colon to be absorbed, so we shit it out without absorbing any..  Other non-carnivorous animals  get it from eating the shit left on plants by themselves and other animals.

Most humans through history have gotten enough B12 from eating the flesh of shit eating animals, which, as above, is loaded with B12. Modern Vegans like me, however, who  wash their veggies, are, well, shit outta luck. We have to take supplements.

So it seems that not just America took a wrong turn way back when, but on the larger, evolutionary time scale, all of animal life evolved down a path which has forever forced us to either eat shit or become predators of those who do.

There may be more to that "shiteatin grin" then we first imagined.

And as for Dr. Buddy- he's just doing his bit to help correct a "flaw" that we've all inherited. Besides making a nice buck, of course.

jody

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