How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"First, Peterson's not a scientist. Second, all that about suppressing emotion is mostly a convenient legend. When Newton and Hooke were having their famous dispute over who discovered the inverse square law, I'm sure they were livid with rage. But it took two weeks to get a letter back and forth. Newton had time to consider his reply. Kept the discussion on a high plane, y'see." (24.72)
Of course, the nature of communication has changed over the past couple centuries. Even since the time this novel came out, communication has changed immensely—now we can text someone instantly or use our smartphones to call anyone, anywhere. This would have blown our minds in 1998.
Quote #8
[Mrs. Bernstein] knew of spontaneous resonance and Saul Shriffer and the rest. She found it "interesting," she said, the standard word that committed you to nothing. (27.33)
Speaking of relativism in communication, let's talk about "interesting." The word technically means engaging, exciting, and holding our attention, but how many times have you heard someone use it to mean I don't know, I don't want to hurt your feelings, or let's talk about something else? All that packed into one little word. Interesting, isn't it?
Quote #9
Ramsey studied the interweaving curves. "Y'know, I didn't think anything of this at the time. But…"
"Yes?"
"Well, it looks like some sort of molecular chain to me. These dots…"
"The ones I connected up?"
"Yeah, I guess. You drew this first?"
"No, Saul unscrambled it from a coded sequence. What about them?"
"Well, maybe it's not a bunch of curves. Maybe the points are molecules. Or atoms. Nitrogen, hydrogen, phosphorus." (29.73-79)
Remember that Saul thought this image could be some form of code, but when Ramsey looks at it, he sees a molecular structure. Both men have perfectly good reasons for believing their interpretations, but Ramsey is right. It's not because he's smarter but because his unique circumstances as a biologist make him the intended recipient for the message.