Really interesting...I hadn't seen that parabolic graph of behaviorism before; of course it makes utter sense that it would be a parabola and so mirror the Rocket's path.
Continuing to turn pavolovianism over in my mind since last week; for me, it is revealing to contrast Pynchon's emphasis here with the prevailing civilian theories of mind that were dominant in his moment, namely, psychoanalysis. Pynchon resists and mocks psychoanalysis in the text--I argued in my thesis that GR is parallel with Deleuze and Guattari's resistance to freudianism, that it was anti-oedipal. Pavlov was nothing if not an empiricist, only venturing into the realm of psychology after years of studying the body's physiological reactions. We now know that the two (mind and body) are profoundly interrelated: the conditions of the body do much more to determine the conditions of the psyche than any symbolic construct erected in a child's youth. It is the parasympathetic or autonomic nervous system that was manipulated to create baby Tyrone's small erections. So while someone like Philip Roth was out creating self-indulgent (onanistic in the literal sense) fables based on symbolic Freudian constructs, Pynchon was out there calling out the secret/occulted technologies of the mind that were being developed while the counterculture was distracted with psychoanalysis and acid.
Pynchon was obviously writing against (satirizing, lampooning) the military-industrial complex's experiments with mind control/behavior change that would only become common knowledge much later, and would never be a topic of conversation in polite company, and yet has now been thoroughly documented. Throughout that whole time period, from WWI on, but reaching a real climax both in world war II and then an even bigger climax in the MK-Ultra programs of Pynchon's day (which are still ongoing), countless clandestine organizations both domestically and globally were conducting research into mind/behavior control by this kind of pavlovian conditioning (stimulus, response), using the science of cause and effect to increase susceptibility to hypnotism, suggestibility, and so on. Behavior control was demonstrated to be effective, and more importantly, cheap and straightforward to study: pay Michael Aquino to traumatize some children, see what happens. At a minimum with these blunt, abusive instruments, they became adept at a minimum of creating disassociated personalities (think Sirhan Sirhan), which were obviously useful in the field of clandestine control in which they operated. I think Pynchon saw this stuff clearly, and saw that eventually the military style of pavlovian control would eventually and inevitably colonize the civilian psychological space (as it has, with ABA, CBT, etc.) Or at least that it had the potential to do so -- he need not make a prediction to make a profound point here.
Pavlov/Pointsman/Jamf is our main rubric that the author gives us to try to understand the mystery named Tyrone Slothrop--why he is so important to so many, why he is the sole subject of ornate systems of surveillance and control. I guess it could be said that in the third part of the novel, when he's running away from something, it is his Conditioning that he is running away from...
How do you read or understand Spectro's refusal (or at least reluctance) to give Pointsman his foxes? Is there some kind of moral line for Kevin that he's shying away from, some ethical division between his work at the hospital and Pointsman's at the White Visitation? If so, it might seem arbitrary and hypocritical (perhaps that's what Pynchon wants us to think). Or it's budgetary and bureaucratic perhaps? Pointsman obviously believes it's personal, it's a personal slight.
Really interesting...I hadn't seen that parabolic graph of behaviorism before; of course it makes utter sense that it would be a parabola and so mirror the Rocket's path.
Continuing to turn pavolovianism over in my mind since last week; for me, it is revealing to contrast Pynchon's emphasis here with the prevailing civilian theories of mind that were dominant in his moment, namely, psychoanalysis. Pynchon resists and mocks psychoanalysis in the text--I argued in my thesis that GR is parallel with Deleuze and Guattari's resistance to freudianism, that it was anti-oedipal. Pavlov was nothing if not an empiricist, only venturing into the realm of psychology after years of studying the body's physiological reactions. We now know that the two (mind and body) are profoundly interrelated: the conditions of the body do much more to determine the conditions of the psyche than any symbolic construct erected in a child's youth. It is the parasympathetic or autonomic nervous system that was manipulated to create baby Tyrone's small erections. So while someone like Philip Roth was out creating self-indulgent (onanistic in the literal sense) fables based on symbolic Freudian constructs, Pynchon was out there calling out the secret/occulted technologies of the mind that were being developed while the counterculture was distracted with psychoanalysis and acid.
Pynchon was obviously writing against (satirizing, lampooning) the military-industrial complex's experiments with mind control/behavior change that would only become common knowledge much later, and would never be a topic of conversation in polite company, and yet has now been thoroughly documented. Throughout that whole time period, from WWI on, but reaching a real climax both in world war II and then an even bigger climax in the MK-Ultra programs of Pynchon's day (which are still ongoing), countless clandestine organizations both domestically and globally were conducting research into mind/behavior control by this kind of pavlovian conditioning (stimulus, response), using the science of cause and effect to increase susceptibility to hypnotism, suggestibility, and so on. Behavior control was demonstrated to be effective, and more importantly, cheap and straightforward to study: pay Michael Aquino to traumatize some children, see what happens. At a minimum with these blunt, abusive instruments, they became adept at a minimum of creating disassociated personalities (think Sirhan Sirhan), which were obviously useful in the field of clandestine control in which they operated. I think Pynchon saw this stuff clearly, and saw that eventually the military style of pavlovian control would eventually and inevitably colonize the civilian psychological space (as it has, with ABA, CBT, etc.) Or at least that it had the potential to do so -- he need not make a prediction to make a profound point here.
Pavlov/Pointsman/Jamf is our main rubric that the author gives us to try to understand the mystery named Tyrone Slothrop--why he is so important to so many, why he is the sole subject of ornate systems of surveillance and control. I guess it could be said that in the third part of the novel, when he's running away from something, it is his Conditioning that he is running away from...
How do you read or understand Spectro's refusal (or at least reluctance) to give Pointsman his foxes? Is there some kind of moral line for Kevin that he's shying away from, some ethical division between his work at the hospital and Pointsman's at the White Visitation? If so, it might seem arbitrary and hypocritical (perhaps that's what Pynchon wants us to think). Or it's budgetary and bureaucratic perhaps? Pointsman obviously believes it's personal, it's a personal slight.