Joel's Physics And Psychology

 

"Earthman, Beware!"

Joel describes his attempt at interstellar communication:

"'Energy fields vibrating a certain way produce detectable effects in a similar setup well removed from the first... these effects are transmitted with no measurable time lag or diminution with distance.'" (p. 46)

Two Observations

(i) This sounds exactly like James Blish's instantaneous Dirac transmitter.

(ii) When Margaret/Peggy hears Joel's account, she comments:

"'I see. It's a sort of ultrawave.'" (ibid.)

But it sounds like action at a distance and not like a wave. Joel had intially said:

"'...you might call it radiation, though it has no relation to the electromagnetic spectrum.'" (ibid.)

But radiation crosses space - and at finite speed - between two "setups" whereas what Joel describes is an instantaneous remote effect.

When Joel reflects not on physics but on psychology:

"Humans were that way, groping through a darkness of solitude, calling to each other across abysses and never, never understanding." (p. 32)

That is how we appear to someone with his insight and mental abilities but it is also a one-sided account. If solitude and lack of understanding were absolute, then there would be no communication and therefore also no self-consciousness.