as good as it used to be-I have trouble making up my mind, of coming to a decision.
Do you think you can do anything for us?”
But Lentz had no immediate relief for his anxiety. “Not so fast,
superintendent,” he countered. “You have given me the background, but I have no real
data as yet. I must look around for a while, smell out the situation for myself,
talk to your engineers, perhaps have a few drinks with them, and get acquainted.
That is possible, is it not? Then in a few days, maybe, we know where we stand.”
King had no alternative but to agree.
“And it is well that your young men do not know what I am here for. Suppose
I am your old friend, a visiting physicist, eh?”
“Why, yes-of course. I can see to it that that idea gets around. But say-”
King was reminded again of something that had bothered him from the time Silard had
first suggested Lentz’ name. “May I ask a personal question?”
The merry eyes were undisturbed. “Go ahead.”
“I can’t help but be surprised that one man should attain eminence in two
such widely differing fields as psychology and mathematics. And right now I’m
perfectly convinced of your ability to pass yourself off as a physicist. I don’t
understand it.”
The smile was more amused, without being in the least patronizing, nor
offensive. “Same subject,” he answered.
“Eh? How’s that-”
“Or rather, both mathematical physics and psychology are branches of the
same subject, symbology. You are a specialist; it’ would not necessarily come to
your attention.”
“I still don’t follow you.”
“No? Man lives in a world of ideas. Any phenomenon is so complex that he
cannot possibly grasp the whole of it. He abstracts certain characteristics of a
given phenomenon as an idea, then represents that idea as a symbol, be it a word or
a mathematical sign. Human reaction is almost entirely reaction to symbols, and only
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negligibly to phenomena. As a matter Of fact,” he continued, removing the cigarette
holder from his mouth and settling into his subject, “it can be demonstrated that
the human mind can think only in terms of symbols.
“When we think, we let symbols operate on other symbols in certain, set
fashions-rules of logic, or rules of mathematics. If the symbols have been
abstracted so that they are structurally similar to the phenomena they stand for,
and if the symbol operations are similar in structure and order to the operations of
phenomena in the ~real~ world, we think sanely. If our logic-mathematics, or our
word-symbols, have been poorly chosen, we think not sanely.
“In mathematical physics you are concerned with making your symbology fit
physical phenomena. In psychiatry I am concerned with precisely the same thing,
except that I am more immediately concerned with the man who does the thinking than
with the phenomena he is thinking about. But the same subject, always the dame
subject.”
“We’re not getting anyplace, Gus.” Harper put down his slide rule and
frowned.
“Seems like it, Cal,” Erickson grudgingly admitted.
“Damn it, though-there ought to be some reasonable way of tackling the
problem. What do we need? Some form of concentrated, controllable power for rocket
fuel. What have we got? Power galore through fission. There must be some way to
bottle that power, and serve it out when we need it-and the answer is some place in
one of the radioactive~ series. I know it.” He stared glumly around the laboratory
as if expecting to find the answer written somewhere on the lead-sheathed walls.
“Don’t be so down in the mouth about it. You’ve got me convinced there is an
answer; let’s figure out how to find it. In the first place the three natural
radioactive series are out, aren’t they?”
“Yes … at least we had agreed that all that ground had been fully covered
before.”
“Okay; we have to assume that previous investigators have done what their
notes show they have done-otherwise we might as well not believe anything, and start
checking on everybody from Archimedes to date. Maybe that is indicated, but
Methuselah himself couldn’t carry out such an assignment. What have we got left?”