In memory of Anatole Katok, who reportedly died on Walpurgisnacht,
two readings from a source cited by Dan Brown in his recent novel
Origin —
Brown is reportedly a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and
of Amherst College.
Those associated with institutions that are more respectable
may prefer Katok on entropy.
In the following passage, Dan Brown claims that an eight-ray star
with arrowheads at the rays’ ends is “the mathematical symbol for
entropy.” Brown may have first encountered this symbol at a
questionable “Sacred Science” website. Wikipedia discusses
some even less respectable uses of the symbol.
Related news —
Related symbolism —
A star figure and the Galois quaternion.
The square root of the former is the latter.
In the altered headline above, " Q******* " may, if you like,
be interpreted as " Quellers ," an invented term for scholars
who investigate the origins of Christianity.
See the Log24 post "Q is for Quelle " (November 7, 2020).
Dan Brown, like the earlier novelist who wrote The Source ,
is such an investigator (of sorts), though not a scholar .
(For an example of actual scholarship , see the webpage
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/
middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED35525.
That page may be interpreted as putting the "hit" in "s***.")
Click for some background —
Another approach, for Dan Brown fans —
In the following passage, Brown claims that an eight-ray star
with arrowheads at the rays' ends is "the mathematical symbol for
entropy." Brown may have first encountered this symbol at a
questionable "Sacred Science" website. Wikipedia discusses
some even less respectable uses of the symbol.
Smith College in 2011 on some music by Dan Brown's brother —
"Using the conventions of a traditional five-movement
Roman Catholic Mass to revere Darwin’s body of work,
Gregory Brown, Smith’s assistant director of choral
activities and a composer of choral music, is
collaborating with Craig Phillips, an early music specialist
and member of the classical a cappella male quartet
New York Polyphony, to create the piece Missa Charles Darwin .
Brown is building the work in three large-scale sections and
scoring it for a male vocal quartet, which will be performed by
New York Polyphony."
— https://www.smith.edu/insight/stories/darwin.php
Dan Brown has said his brother's Missa helped suggest his new novel Origin .
Material from Smith College related to a performance of
Missa Charles Darwin at the college on Feb. 4, 2011 —
Dan Brown, in the following passage, claims that an eight-ray star with arrowheads
at the rays' ends is "the mathematical symbol for entropy." Brown may have first
encountered this symbol at a questionable "Sacred Science" website. Wikipedia
discusses some even less respectable uses of the symbol.
My own version of the above symbol (from the pure mathematics of group actions
on a 3×3 square) appeared here the day before the Friday, Feb. 4, 2011,
Smith College Darwin Mass . . .
See posts now tagged The Next Thing.
From the online New York Times this morning —
"Origin is Mr. Brown’s eighth novel. It finds his familiar protagonist,
the brilliant Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconography
Robert Langdon, embroiled once more in an intellectually challenging,
life-threatening adventure involving murderous zealots, shadowy fringe
organizations, paradigm-shifting secrets with implications for the future
of humanity, symbols within puzzles and puzzles within symbols and
a female companion who is super-smart and super-hot.
As do all of Mr. Brown’s works, the new novel does not shy away from
the big questions, but rather rushes headlong into them."
— Profile of Dan Brown by Sarah Lyall
See also yesterday's Log24 post on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.
From Zettel (repunctuated for clarity):
249. « Nichts leichter, als sich einen 4-dimensionalen Würfel
vorstellen! Er schaut so aus… »
"Nothing easier than to imagine a 4-dimensional cube!
It looks like this…
[Here the editor supplied a picture of a 4-dimensional cube
that was omitted by Wittgenstein in the original.]
« Aber das meine ich nicht, ich meine etwas wie…
"But I don't mean that, I mean something like…
…nur mit 4 Ausdehnungen! »
but with four dimensions!
« Aber das ist nicht, was ich dir gezeigt habe,
eben etwas wie…
"But isn't what I showed you like…
…nur mit 4 Ausdehnungen? »
…only with four dimensions?"
« Nein; das meine ich nicht! »
"No, I don't mean that!"
« Was aber meine ich? Was ist mein Bild?
Nun der 4-dimensionale Würfel, wie du ihn gezeichnet hast,
ist es nicht ! Ich habe jetzt als Bild nur die Worte und
die Ablehnung alles dessen, was du mir zeigen kanst. »
"But what do I mean? What is my picture?
Well, it is not the four-dimensional cube
as you drew it. I have now for a picture only
the words and my rejection of anything
you can show me."
"Here's your damn Bild , Ludwig —"
Context: The Galois Tesseract.
The Misalignment of Mars and Venus
A death in Sarasota on Sunday leads to a weblog post from Tuesday
that suggests a review of Dan Brown's graphic philosophy—
|
From The Da Vinci Code : Langdon pulled a pen from his pocket. “Sophie are you familiar with the modern icons for male and female?” He drew the common male symbol ♂ and female symbol ♀. “Of course,” she said. “These,” he said quietly, are not the original symbols for male and female. Many people incorrectly assume the male symbol is derived from a shield and spear, while the female represents a mirror reflecting beauty. In fact, the symbols originated as ancient astronomical symbols for the planet-god Mars and the planet-goddess Venus. The original symbols are far simpler.” Langdon drew another icon on the paper. ∧
“This symbol is the original icon for male ,” he told her. “A rudimentary phallus.” “Quite to the point,” Sophie said. “As it were,” Teabing added. Langdon went on. “This icon is formally known as the blade , and it represents aggression and manhood. In fact, this exact phallus symbol is still used today on modern military uniforms to denote rank.” “Indeed.” Teabing grinned. “The more penises you have, the higher your rank. Boys will be boys.”
Langdon winced. “Moving on, the female symbol, as you might imagine, is the exact opposite.” He drew another symbol on the page. “This is called the ∨ Sophie glanced up, looking surprised. Langdon could see she had made the connection. “The chalice,” he said, “resembles a cup or vessel, and more important, it resembles the shape of a woman’s womb. This symbol communicates femininity, womanhood, and fertility.” |
Langdon's simplified symbols, in disguised form, illustrate
a musical meditation on the misalignment of Mars and Venus—
This was adapted from an album cover by "Meyers/Monogram"—
See also Secret History and The Story of N.
|
From The Da Vinci Code, Chapter 56 Sophie stared at Teabing a long moment and then turned to Langdon. “The Holy Grail is a person?” Langdon nodded. “A woman, in fact.” From the blank look on Sophie’s face, Langdon could tell they had already lost her. He recalled having a similar reaction the first time he heard the statement. It was not until he understood the symbology behind the Grail that the feminine connection became clear. Teabing apparently had a similar thought. “Robert, perhaps this is the moment for the symbologist to clarify?” He went to a nearby end table, found a piece of paper, and laid it in front of Langdon. Langdon pulled a pen from his pocket. “Sophie are you familiar with the modern icons for male and female?” He drew the common male symbol ♂ and female symbol ♀. “Of course,” she said. “These,” he said quietly, are not the original symbols for male and female. Many people incorrectly assume the male symbol is derived from a shield and spear, while the female represents a mirror reflecting beauty. In fact, the symbols originated as ancient astronomical symbols for the planet-god Mars and the planet-goddess Venus. The original symbols are far simpler.” Langdon drew another icon on the paper. ∧
“This symbol is the original icon for male ,” he told her. “A rudimentary phallus.” “Quite to the point,” Sophie said. “As it were,” Teabing added. Langdon went on. “This icon is formally known as the blade , and it represents aggression and manhood. In fact, this exact phallus symbol is still used today on modern military uniforms to denote rank.” “Indeed.” Teabing grinned. “The more penises you have, the higher your rank. Boys will be boys.” Langdon winced. “Moving on, the female symbol, as you might imagine, is the exact opposite.” He drew another symbol on the page. “This is called the ∨ Sophie glanced up, looking surprised. Langdon could see she had made the connection. “The chalice,” he said, “resembles a cup or vessel, and more important, it resembles the shape of a woman’s womb. This symbol communicates femininity, womanhood, and fertility.” Langdon looked directly at her now. “Sophie, legend tells us the Holy Grail is a chalice—a cup. But the Grail’s description as a chalice is actually an allegory to protect the true nature of the Holy Grail. That is to say, the legend uses the chalice as a metaphor for something far more important.” “A woman,” Sophie said. “Exactly.” Langdon smiled. “The Grail is literally the ancient symbol for womankind, and the Holy Grail represents the sacred feminine and the goddess, which of course has now been lost, virtually eliminated by the Church. The power of the female and her ability to produce life was once very sacred, but it posed a threat to the rise of the predominantly male Church, and so the sacred feminine was demonized and called unclean. It was man , not God, who created the concept of ‘original sin,’ whereby Eve tasted of the apple and caused the downfall of the human race. Woman, once the sacred giver of life, was now the enemy.” “I should add,” Teabing chimed, “that this concept of woman as life-bringer was the foundation of ancient religion. Childbirth was mystical and powerful. Sadly, Christian philosophy decided to embezzle the female’s creative power by ignoring biological truth and making man the Creator. Genesis tells us that Eve was created from Adam’s rib. Woman became an offshoot of man. And a sinful one at that. Genesis was the beginning of the end for the goddess.” “The Grail,” Langdon said, “is symbolic of the lost goddess. When Christianity came along, the old pagan religions did not die easily. Legends of chivalric quests for the lost Grail were in fact stories of forbidden quests to find the lost sacred feminine. Knights who claimed to be “searching for the chalice” were speaking in codes as a way to protect themselves from a Church that had subjugated women, banished the Goddess, burned nonbelievers, and forbidden pagan reverence for the sacred feminine.” |
Happy birthday to Harrison Ford.
One for my baby…
∧
One more for the road.
∨
and the New York Lottery
A search in this journal for yesterday's evening number in the New York Lottery, 359, leads to…
The Cerebral Savage:
On the Work of Claude Lévi-Strauss
by Clifford Geertz
Shown below is 359, the final page of Chapter 13 in
The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays by Clifford Geertz,
New York, 1973: Basic Books, pp. 345-359 —
This page number 359 also appears in this journal in an excerpt from Dan Brown's novel Angels & Demons—
See this journal's entries for March 1-15, 2009, especially…
| Sunday, March 15, 2009 5:24 PM
Philosophy and Poetry: The Origin of Change A note on the figure
"Two things of opposite natures seem to depend On one another, as a man depends On a woman, day on night, the imagined On the real. This is the origin of change. Winter and spring, cold copulars, embrace And forth the particulars of rapture come." -- Wallace Stevens, "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction," Canto IV of "It Must Change" Sunday, March 15, 2009 11:00 AM Ides of March Sermon: Angels, Demons,
"Symbology" "On Monday morning, 9 March, after visiting the Mayor of Rome and the Municipal Council on the Capitoline Hill, the Holy Father spoke to the Romans who gathered in the square outside the Senatorial Palace…
'… a verse by Ovid, the great Latin poet, springs to mind. In one of his elegies he encouraged the Romans of his time with these words: "Perfer et obdura: multo graviora tulisti." "Hold out and persist: (Tristia, Liber V, Elegia XI, verse 7).'" This journal
on 9 March:
Note the color-interchange Related material: |
The symmetry of the yin-yang symbol, of the diamond-theorem symbol, and of Brown's Illuminati Diamond is also apparent in yesterday's midday New York lottery number (see above).
"Savage logic works like a kaleidoscope…." — Clifford Geertz on Lévi-Strauss
Notes on Mathematics and Narrative
Background—
Commentary on The Wicker Man—
Originally The Wicker Man was not well-received by critics in the UK. It was considered
to be bizarre, disturbing, and uncomfortable, with the hasty editing making the story confusing
and out of order…. Today this movie is considered a cult classic and has been called
the “Citizen Kane of horror films” by some reviewers. How did this film become a cult classic?
Real estate motto— Location, Location, Location.
Illustration— The fire leap scene from Wicker Man, filmed at Castle Kennedy—
In today's New York Times, Michiko Kakutani reviews a summer thriller
by Kevin Guilfoile. The Thousand is in the manner of Dan Brown's
2003 The Da Vinci Code or of Katherine Neville's 1988 The Eight .
From the review—
What connects these disparate events, it turns out, is a sinister organization
called the Thousand, made up of followers of the ancient Greek mathematician
and philosopher Pythagoras (yes, the same Pythagoras associated with
the triangle theorem that we learned in school).
As Mr. Guilfoile describes it, this organization is part Skull and Bones,
part Masonic lodge, part something much more twisted and nefarious….
The plot involves, in part,
… an eccentric artist’s mysterious masterwork, made up of thousands of
individually painted tiles that may cohere into an important message….
Not unlike the tiles in the Diamond Theory cover (see yesterday's post)
or, more aptly, the entries in this journal.
A brief prequel to the above dialogue—
In lieu of songs, here is a passage by Patrick Blackburn
more relevant to the art of The Thousand—
See also the pagan fire leaping in Dancing at Lughnasa.
John Allen Paulos yesterday at Twitter—
"Plato's code cracked? http://bit.ly/ad6k1S
Fascinating if not a hoax or hype."
The story that Paulos linked to is about a British
academic who claims to have found some
symbolism hidden in Plato's writings by
splitting each into 12 parts and correlating
the 12 parts with semitones of a musical scale.
I prefer a different approach to Plato that is
related to the following hoax and hype—
HOAX:
From Dan Brown's novel Angels & Demons (2000)—
HYPE:
This four-elements diamond summarizes the classical
four elements and four qualities neatly, but some scholars
might call the figure "hype" since it deals with an academically
disreputable subject, alchemy, and since its origin is unclear.
For the four elements' role in some literature more respectable
than Dan Brown's, see Poetry's Bones.
Although an author like Brown might spin the remarks
below into a narrative— The Plato Code — they are
neither hoax nor hype.
NOT HOAX:
NOT HYPE:
For related non-hoax, non-hype remarks, see
The Rational Enterprise: Logos in Plato's Theaetetus,
by Rosemary Desjardins.
Those who prefer hoax and hype in their philosophy may consult
the writings of, say, Barbara Johnson, Rosalind Krauss, and—
in yesterday's NY Times's "The Stone" column— Nancy Bauer.
— The New York Times
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