Connecting to the past through words

The written word allowed mankind to share knowledge in the present and across time. We can learn from others experience when it is shared in a written or audio format. Storytelling and reciting from memory was how history was passed down through generations for much of human history. The alphabet and written text in its various languages and appearance changed human culture.

Kurt Vonnegut was an exceptional wordsmith, crafter of words both real and of his own creation. To connect any interested readers or writers, in brief, I returned to the bookstore for a copy of Timequake to give to a friend and instead found a book that fills in yet more gaps in the biography, The Brothers Vonnegut, and autobiography/novel Timequake. Armageddon in Retrospect, And Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace, (Berkley Books, 2008, New York), by Kurt Vonnegut, Introduction by Mark Vonnegut (one of his sons who is also a writer) is a collection of unpublished short stories and letters including one that was mentioned in both Timequake and The Brothers Vonnegut.

The letter was published in a newspaper after WWII. It is the initial, oh, you may not have heard yet family, but I’m not dead and no longer Missing In Action, letter to his lived ones. I haven’t read past the letter. Tears in my eyes make it difficult to read – or write. War is bad. We need to be reminded of that everyday until we figure out how to manage life more humanely. I share the hope that humans can do that soon.

Learning to write better may be a goal which reading well written words can help achieve. Learning to live better may be a bonus.

Previous post about The Brothers Vonnegut: https://transcendingsquare.com/2018/03/01/who-owns-science-or-should-all-ideas-be-shared/

Previous post about Timequake: https://transcendingsquare.com/2018/03/05/timequake-a-novel-by-kurt-vonnegut/

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Who owns science? or, should all ideas be shared?

The question of whether a scientist should share all of his discoveries was considered by a mathematician after the devastation the atomic bombs caused in Japan during WWII was observed. The topic of whether science advances are always progress or not is a theme in a book I picked up yesterday. “The Brothers Vonnegut: Science and Fiction in the House of Magic” is a biography of the famous fiction author Kurt Vonnegut and his brother Bernard Vonnegut who was a scientist more famous during their earlier years than Kurt.

Bernard worked on plane de-icing strategies for use during WWII while Kurt was an enlisted man who became a Prisoner of War of the Nazi’s. The family feared he was dead for several months before he eventually was released at the end of the war and arrived home unexpectedly. Bernard’s career continued to involve ice in the form of cloud seeding for the purpose of creating snow where moisture was desired or potentially to be able to modify storm patterns to reduce their danger. His work involved dry ice and then silver iodide for dispersing in clouds. Super-cooled moisture within the cloud would form snow when the particles of dry ice or silver iodide were present. Ultimately it was found that health hazards were caused by silver iodide in the environment and the work was discontinued. It led to both brothers questioning the advisability of science experiments or technology being used when potential risks weren’t well understood.

Kurt wondered what might happen if a scientist refused to share information with the military. The leading mathematician of the day had done it after seeing the atomic bomb’s tragic results on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Professor Norbert Wiener of MIT wrote an essay that was published in November 1948, ‘A Rebellious Scientist After Two Years,’ that included the statement:

degradation of the position of the scientist as an independent worker and thinker to that of a morally irresponsible stooge in a science-factory has proceeded even more rapidly and devastatingly than I had expected. In view of this, I still see no reason to turn over to any person, whether he be an army officer or the kept scientist of a great corporation, any results which I obtain if I think they are not going to be used for the best interests of science and of humanity.” – page 114-115, The Brothers Vonnegut: Science and Fiction in the House of Magic, by Ginger Strand (Great, Strauss and Giroux, 2015, New York)

The ‘House of Magic‘ referred to in the title was the nickname of the lab where Bernard Vonnegut worked professionally.

Disclosure: This information is being shared for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use.