Conjugate point - is a math thing?

[Raphael Saltwood]

certain hidden geometries of
>>>> History,
>>>> which must include, somewhere, at least at a single point, a safe
>>>> conjugate
>>>> to all the spill of accursed meridians, passing daily, desolate, one
>>>> upon
>>>> the next.


Pynchon put “point” and “conjugate” in same sentence.
Due diligence on that dredges up some math and specific reference to Riemann —-

Wikipedia - conjugate point

In differential geometry<https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Differential_geometry>, conjugate points or focal points are, roughly, points that can almost be joined by a 1-parameter family of <https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Conjugate_points#cite_note-1> geodesics<https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Geodesic>.

Yada yada yada

<https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Conjugate_points#cite_note-2><https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Conjugate_points#cite_note-2>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Conjugate_points#cite_note-2>
Definition
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conjugate_points&action=edit&section=1>

Suppose p and q are points on a Riemannian manifold<https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Riemannian_manifold>, and [\gamma]  is a  geodesic<https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Geodesic> that connects p and q. Then p and q are conjugate points along [\gamma]  if there exists a non-zero Jacobi field<https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Jacobi_field> along [\gamma]  that vanishes at p and q.

Recall that any Jacobi field can be written as the derivative of a geodesic variation (see the article on Jacobi fields<https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Jacobi_field>). Therefore, if p and q are conjugate along [\gamma] , one can construct a family of


Yada yada - over my head

But Riemann!



Simplistic breakdown: we are considering a spot where anarchists can hang out and live without capitalism, hierarchy, coercion and all that buzzkill alpha male excrescence...

Such a spot would be the opposite of all the landmark lines circumscribing our capitalistic daily experience (the spill would be the messy way that “getting and spending we lay waste our powers”)

(“spill” could also be an inter textual reference to all the blood spilled in _Blood Meridian_ speaking of meridians, although I can’t prove author intent from the text)