[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
a world that was finite and bounded. Even his mathematics confined itself to
Page 117
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the study of finite, static objects: geometric figures bounded by lines;
solids bounded by planes. Time was never recognized as a dynamic variable --
that was what confounded Zeno and led to insoluble paradoxes. And Classical
Man's number system contained no negatives and no irrationals -- not because
he was intellectually incapable of dealing with them, but simply because his
worldview encompassed nothing that such entities were needed to describe. In a
finite, tangible world, numbers merely enumerate finite, tangible objects. And
it was perfectly natural that the form of art that dominated his culture
should be sculptures: static, finite objects bounded by surfaces."
Rashazzi seemed about to say something, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully and
nodded, evidently deciding not to interrupt. The sound of Smovak bellowing
about something came from farther along the billet.
"But Classical Man died, and Europe stagnated through the centuries of its
Dark Ages before Western Man appeared. That's the way every new culture
arises: nothing significant happens for thousands of years, and then,
suddenly, a new breed of Man with a new worldview bursts forth in a frenzy of
creativity that sweeps the old order away. Western Man appeared out of the
wreckage when European feudalism collapsed -- not as a reincarnation of
Classical Man, who was gone forever, but born in his own right, from his own
beginnings.
"Western Man not only comprehended change and infinity, he delighted in them
-- with a restless, thrusting energy, the like of which the world had never
seen. After the stagnation of the Dark Ages, everything that spoke for him was
an exultation of the newfound freedoms that they symbolized. The calculus of
Newton and Leibnitz was the language of a universe no longer static and
bounded, but dynamic and unlimited, to be explored through the scientific
passion for discovery and the voyages of the global navigators. His mastery of
perspective and soaring Gothic arches rejoiced in the experience of boundless,
endless space. And what was his dominant form of art, which reached its zenith
of expression along with the high point of his culture in the eighteenth
century? Music, of course. For what else is the music of Mozart and
Beethoven than flute and strings exploring vast, orchestra-created voids --
the flourishes of baroque porticoes and the curves of the infinitesimal
calculus, the commitment to reason and the power of intellect -- set to
sound?"
Koh paused and stared solemnly into the space opposite him. His voice took on
an edge of regret. "But, like Classical Man before him -- in fact, any
organism that is born lives out its span and dies -- he was not immortal. And
like Classical Man he balked before realities that his nature was unable to
assimilate. The problems that have plagued him since are the consequences."
"You mean the problems we're in right now, today?" Rashazzi said.
"Yes. Whereas Classical Man couldn't come to terms with infinities of space
and time, what confounded Western Man was the confrontation with physical
infinities: the infinity of potential growth and achievement that is implicit
in the evolutionary process itself and in the creative power of the
intelligent mind. For although free of the tyranny of feudalism, Western Man
is essentially Malthusian in his worldview, always bounded by the currently
perceived limits and possibilities. He extended his vision to the horizon, but
not beyond it. As the continuous functions of his mathematics aptly symbolize,
his is a world that changes smoothly, an orderly, civilized world, unable to
accommodate to sudden leaps. Was it mere coincidence, then, that the world of
Western Man fell apart at the end of the nineteenth century, when it came
face-to-face with the discontinuities of relativity, quantum mechanics,
evolution, and the implications of industrialized economic growth? He couldn't
cope with phase changes. Oh, some individuals played with the concepts
academically in the same way that Zeno played with mathematical infinities;
but the collective mind-set of Western Man was unable to feel what the
concepts meant. And so, he has foundered into his own, cultureless, Dark Age."
Page 118
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The lights-out warning flashed. "Time to break it up, you lot at the end,"
Smovak's voice called out. "Let's have some quiet."
"Oskar, you make more noise than all of those guys put together," Mungabo shot
back from the far side of the table. The group dispersed back to their
own bunks.
"'Tis a small part we are of everything, when ye think about it, and that's
the truth," Scanlon said from across the aisle as McCain climbed into bed.
"What makes you so interested in all that stuff of Koh's?" McCain asked.
"I'm not sure. It's a new way of looking at things." Scanlon paused. "I
suppose a man likes to think that what he is and what he does will add a
little to something that matters. Like them stones that Koh talks about...
Wouldn't anyone rather think that what he did would be built into something
worthwhile than be left in the rubble?" McCain turned his head and looked
across at him. Scanlon was staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought. Then
the lights went out.
A half hour later, McCain was lying in the dark, waiting for his senses to
register the pattern of stillness that would tell him that the billet had
settled down for the night. It was possible that the surveillance might
include infrared sensors capable of tracking body movements in the darkness or
other devices that Rashazzi had failed to detect -- but there had to be some
risks.
"Okay?" he breathed into the darkness when he judged the time to be right.
"Okay," Scanlon's voice whispered back.
"On your way," Mungabo muttered above.
McCain raised his head and whistled quietly through his teeth. A similar
signal acknowledged from the far side, which meant Rashazzi agreed, McCain
lifted his blanket aside and rolled noiselessly onto the floor. He slid the
drawer out from underneath his bunk and placed it on top, then turned and
removed Scanlon's drawer also, lifting it up on top of his own. Then he moved
out between his and Scanlon's bunks toward the center space of the billet. The
black-clad shape of Rashazzi was already wriggling along the floor on the far
side of the table to meet him. McCain reached under the table and grasped the
ends of the wires that Rashazzi pushed through for him. Then he crawled back
between the bunks, passed one wire to Scanlon, and drew the other into the
space underneath his own bunk, where the drawer had been.
The "gesture of good faith" that Koh had brought for McCain from the escape [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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a world that was finite and bounded. Even his mathematics confined itself to
Page 117
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the study of finite, static objects: geometric figures bounded by lines;
solids bounded by planes. Time was never recognized as a dynamic variable --
that was what confounded Zeno and led to insoluble paradoxes. And Classical
Man's number system contained no negatives and no irrationals -- not because
he was intellectually incapable of dealing with them, but simply because his
worldview encompassed nothing that such entities were needed to describe. In a
finite, tangible world, numbers merely enumerate finite, tangible objects. And
it was perfectly natural that the form of art that dominated his culture
should be sculptures: static, finite objects bounded by surfaces."
Rashazzi seemed about to say something, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully and
nodded, evidently deciding not to interrupt. The sound of Smovak bellowing
about something came from farther along the billet.
"But Classical Man died, and Europe stagnated through the centuries of its
Dark Ages before Western Man appeared. That's the way every new culture
arises: nothing significant happens for thousands of years, and then,
suddenly, a new breed of Man with a new worldview bursts forth in a frenzy of
creativity that sweeps the old order away. Western Man appeared out of the
wreckage when European feudalism collapsed -- not as a reincarnation of
Classical Man, who was gone forever, but born in his own right, from his own
beginnings.
"Western Man not only comprehended change and infinity, he delighted in them
-- with a restless, thrusting energy, the like of which the world had never
seen. After the stagnation of the Dark Ages, everything that spoke for him was
an exultation of the newfound freedoms that they symbolized. The calculus of
Newton and Leibnitz was the language of a universe no longer static and
bounded, but dynamic and unlimited, to be explored through the scientific
passion for discovery and the voyages of the global navigators. His mastery of
perspective and soaring Gothic arches rejoiced in the experience of boundless,
endless space. And what was his dominant form of art, which reached its zenith
of expression along with the high point of his culture in the eighteenth
century? Music, of course. For what else is the music of Mozart and
Beethoven than flute and strings exploring vast, orchestra-created voids --
the flourishes of baroque porticoes and the curves of the infinitesimal
calculus, the commitment to reason and the power of intellect -- set to
sound?"
Koh paused and stared solemnly into the space opposite him. His voice took on
an edge of regret. "But, like Classical Man before him -- in fact, any
organism that is born lives out its span and dies -- he was not immortal. And
like Classical Man he balked before realities that his nature was unable to
assimilate. The problems that have plagued him since are the consequences."
"You mean the problems we're in right now, today?" Rashazzi said.
"Yes. Whereas Classical Man couldn't come to terms with infinities of space
and time, what confounded Western Man was the confrontation with physical
infinities: the infinity of potential growth and achievement that is implicit
in the evolutionary process itself and in the creative power of the
intelligent mind. For although free of the tyranny of feudalism, Western Man
is essentially Malthusian in his worldview, always bounded by the currently
perceived limits and possibilities. He extended his vision to the horizon, but
not beyond it. As the continuous functions of his mathematics aptly symbolize,
his is a world that changes smoothly, an orderly, civilized world, unable to
accommodate to sudden leaps. Was it mere coincidence, then, that the world of
Western Man fell apart at the end of the nineteenth century, when it came
face-to-face with the discontinuities of relativity, quantum mechanics,
evolution, and the implications of industrialized economic growth? He couldn't
cope with phase changes. Oh, some individuals played with the concepts
academically in the same way that Zeno played with mathematical infinities;
but the collective mind-set of Western Man was unable to feel what the
concepts meant. And so, he has foundered into his own, cultureless, Dark Age."
Page 118
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The lights-out warning flashed. "Time to break it up, you lot at the end,"
Smovak's voice called out. "Let's have some quiet."
"Oskar, you make more noise than all of those guys put together," Mungabo shot
back from the far side of the table. The group dispersed back to their
own bunks.
"'Tis a small part we are of everything, when ye think about it, and that's
the truth," Scanlon said from across the aisle as McCain climbed into bed.
"What makes you so interested in all that stuff of Koh's?" McCain asked.
"I'm not sure. It's a new way of looking at things." Scanlon paused. "I
suppose a man likes to think that what he is and what he does will add a
little to something that matters. Like them stones that Koh talks about...
Wouldn't anyone rather think that what he did would be built into something
worthwhile than be left in the rubble?" McCain turned his head and looked
across at him. Scanlon was staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought. Then
the lights went out.
A half hour later, McCain was lying in the dark, waiting for his senses to
register the pattern of stillness that would tell him that the billet had
settled down for the night. It was possible that the surveillance might
include infrared sensors capable of tracking body movements in the darkness or
other devices that Rashazzi had failed to detect -- but there had to be some
risks.
"Okay?" he breathed into the darkness when he judged the time to be right.
"Okay," Scanlon's voice whispered back.
"On your way," Mungabo muttered above.
McCain raised his head and whistled quietly through his teeth. A similar
signal acknowledged from the far side, which meant Rashazzi agreed, McCain
lifted his blanket aside and rolled noiselessly onto the floor. He slid the
drawer out from underneath his bunk and placed it on top, then turned and
removed Scanlon's drawer also, lifting it up on top of his own. Then he moved
out between his and Scanlon's bunks toward the center space of the billet. The
black-clad shape of Rashazzi was already wriggling along the floor on the far
side of the table to meet him. McCain reached under the table and grasped the
ends of the wires that Rashazzi pushed through for him. Then he crawled back
between the bunks, passed one wire to Scanlon, and drew the other into the
space underneath his own bunk, where the drawer had been.
The "gesture of good faith" that Koh had brought for McCain from the escape [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]