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<p>FriAM-</p>
<p>As long as I am being arbitrarily prolific (manic?) I feel
compelled to reference the *other* book I'm more than halfway
through. It is likely to be familiar to many here. "Zen and the
Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" - Robert Pirsig. <br>
</p>
<p>I read this when I was young and it was fresh and
hyperpopularized and I swear I hardly recognize a word of it as I
re-read it now. I was so unprepared for it... reading it
probably coincides with my recent anecdote about diving into
"Philosophy and Physics", but also a time of life when my primary
(nearly singular) mode of transportation was a motorcycle not
dissimilar (mine an early 70s Honda, his a few years older) to the
one Persig rides on his long journey (in real life, as well as
ultimately in his story). <br>
</p>
<p>I mentioned this to Guerin (that I was reading it) and he dove
into the philosophical ideas related to Phaedrus (the Greek
Philosopher as well as the "former" personality of Persig pre-ECT
who he was channeling/finding/experiencing on his motorcycle
trip). I was too early in the book to appreciate his references,
and it had been too long (and I was too innocent during) from my
first reading to remember. Now, most of the way through the
book, it is all flooding back to me, not unlike the way Pirsig's <i>Phaedrus
</i>comes back to him.</p>
<p>And to add an extra level of indirection, I am not, in fact
reading "Zen", but rather listening to it as Mary reads it
aloud. She also (with no attachment to either motorcycles nor
analytical thought) read it as a young woman and could hardly
remember any of it either. <br>
</p>
<p>In searching for more context on <i>Phaedrus</i> the Greek and <i>Phaedrus
</i>the Pirsig alter-ego, I found what might be Pirsig's last (and
rare) interview in 2006. In many ways it feels as if he is part
of these interwoven thread of FriAM conversation (or is it just
me?). Esp. Re: metaphysics and the nature of science/knowledge.<br>
</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18,
18); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia,
serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal;
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normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
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255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;"><br>
<strong style="font-weight: bold;"><a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/19/fiction">https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/19/fiction</a></strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18,
18); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web",
Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Pirsig's pearls</strong></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18,
18); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web",
Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">·</strong><span> </span>The
Buddha resides as comfortably in the circuits of a digital
computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the
top of a mountain.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18,
18); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web",
Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">·</strong><span> </span>Metaphysics
is a restaurant where they give you a 30,000 page menu and no
food.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18,
18); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web",
Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">·</strong><span> </span>Traditional
scientific method has always been, at the very best, 20-20
hindsight. It's good for seeing where you've been. It's good for
testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can't tell
you where you ought to go.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18,
18); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web",
Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">·</strong><span> </span>Why,
for example, should a group of simple, stable compounds of
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen struggle for billions of
years to organise themselves into a professor of chemistry?
What's the motive?</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18,
18); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web",
Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">·</strong><span> </span>The
only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring
up there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18,
18); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia,
serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
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255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18,
18); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia,
serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;">- Steve<br>
</p>
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