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Plenum, issue 2, July 1946

Page 13

PLENUM     Page thirteen

PHANTEUR: Wish I was a draftsman and could make such nice covers..........Laney's article on drudgery is much like thoughts I've had on many a sorry occasion in the army, where most of the work seems to be menial. In particular I thought that architects should pay special attention to ease of cleaning when designing a house. So many times I've seen places where you just couldn't clean a certain corner without going to a lot of tedious trouble. I doubt if such considerations are ever given a moments attention by architects, when you look at some of the dust-catchers they dream up. DB's remarks on maintenance are quite well put. I think, tho, that you could always find some big strong guys not averse to doing some hard work on maintenance. It's the tedious, repetitious laborers work that we wish to do away with.

L'INCONNU: Nice looking.

BLITHERINGS: Why does this look like a British pub? Must be the peculiar paper. ....Looking thru my file the other day, I discovered the completely forgotten fact that I exchanged a few letters with Chandler Davis back in the old days when he was a 15 year old just taking Calculus. My my, look at him now.

Re sentimentality in literature: Let's not omit half the evidence by forgetting to mention the soap operas which are the breath of life to so many contemporary females, and the current wave of sentimental movies. Oh, there's still plenty of sentimentality running around, altho its more refined, and with melodrama replaced by slick hollywood acting.

Yet people like you and me are irritated by the soap operas and the movies. It seems, tho, that in this case its more the bad writing that annoys us than anything else. I've had many a furtive tear at good plays and movies: Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" or "The Last Chance." There's a generally tougher and more realistic attitude among intellectuals than formerly was present, brought about by a tough and real environment. If we allowed ourselves Victorian standards of sentimentality, we would be weltering in a flood of tears every time we took a look at the newspaper.

Non Credo inspires me to comment: hubba hubba and amen. It's about time we had such a fundamental and crystal-clear exposition of scientific materialism -- and done by a mathematician makes it even better. Let me board the bandwagon and say that I check this group of ideas clear down to the traditional nineteen decimal places. As a matter of fact, in a recent letter to Vom (which looks as tho it will never be published) I made the identical remarks concerning the identity of "God" with the laws of the universe as a hole. ...Not that I'm claiming originality. Spinoza had the idea before either of us, and later on Santanyana came along and said well if that is the case, why call it "God" at all?

What is this Occam's Razor? Sounds like something I'd like to know more about.

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PLENUM Page thirteen PHANTEUR: Wish I was a draftsman and could make such nice covers..........Laney's article on drudgery is much like thoughts I've had on many a sorry occasion in the army, where most of the work seems to be menial. In particular I thought that architects should pay special attention to ease of cleaning when designing a house. So many times I've seen places where you just couldn't clean a certain corner without going to a lot of tedious trouble. I doubt if such considerations are ever given a moments attention by architects, when you look at some of the dust-catchers they dream up. DB's remarks on maintenance are quite well put. I think, tho, that you could always find some big strong guys not averse to doing some hard work on maintenance. It's the tedious, repetitious laborers work that we wish to do away with. L'INCONNU: Nice looking. BLITHERINGS: Why does this look like a British pub? Must be the peculiar paper. ....Looking thru my file the other day, I discovered the completely forgotten fact that I exchanged a few letters with Chandler Davis back in the old days when he was a 15 year old just taking Calculus. My my, look at him now. Re sentimentality in literature: Let's not omit half the evidence by forgetting to mention the soap operas which are the breath of life to so many contemporary females, and the current wave of sentimental movies. Oh, there's still plenty of sentimentality running around, altho its more refined, and with melodrama replaced by slick hollywood acting. Yet people like you and me are irritated by the soap operas and the movies. It seems, tho, that in this case its more the bad writing that annoys us than anything else. I've had many a furtive tear at good plays and movies: Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" or "The Last Chance." There's a generally tougher and more realistic attitude among intellectuals than formerly was present, brought about by a tough and real environment. If we allowed ourselves Victorian standards of sentimentality, we would be weltering in a flood of tears every time we took a look at the newspaper. Non Credo inspires me to comment: hubba hubba and amen. It's about time we had such a fundamental and crystal-clear exposition of scientific materialism -- and done by a mathematician makes it even better. Let me board the bandwagon and say that I check this group of ideas clear down to the traditional nineteen decimal places. As a matter of fact, in a recent letter to Vom (which looks as tho it will never be published) I made the identical remarks concerning the identity of "God" with the laws of the universe as a hole. ...Not that I'm claiming originality. Spinoza had the idea before either of us, and later on Santanyana came along and said well if that is the case, why call it "God" at all? What is this Occam's Razor? Sounds like something I'd like to know more about.