interview question

Gerry Quinn · 04 Jan 2011, 16:14 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: gerryq at indigo.ie (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 16:14:49 -0000
Subject: (urth) interview question
References: <SNT123-W49DA5CE8571A489BFB3F48CF080 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <8D5CCA404A4D420685535E257831FC92@jill>

From: "Lee Berman" <severiansola at hotmail.com>
>
>>Gerry Quinn: It's not at all inexplicable.  He thinks of Dollo's Law in 
>>the context of
>>his handwriting, specifically his thumb, which he cannot use; he must hold
>>the pen between his fingers with his thumb unused.  He is in the same
>>situation a human would be if humans evolved to no longer need thumbs, and
>>the thumb, or the neural networks controlling it, withered away.
>
> Gerry I'm in need of further explanation to understand your theory. You 
> are implying
> an abo once had a thumb but evolved to not need one, then rediscovered the 
> need while
> imitating Dr. Marsch? Why did abos once have a thumb then lose the need 
> for it?

I'm not implying that at all, and neither is VRT.  He does not say he is an 
example of Dollo's Law, but he mentions it because an aspect of it is 
reminiscent of his case.

Let's look at a typical example of Dollo's Law.  The long-ago ancestors of 
snakes had legs, and snakes have vestigial leg bones that serve no 
biological purpose that we know of.  Imagine that a population of snakes 
moves into an environment in which their current methods of locomotion do 
not work well.  Over time, they may evolve limbs.  Dollo's Law predicts that 
even if they do, these new limbs will develop not from the vestigial leg 
bones, but from some other organ - modified scales, pehaps.

The human bodies of the abos have not of course been crafted by evolution, 
but by mimicry; thus, Dollo's law has no direct application.  We may 
plausibly suppose that the human ability to use the opposable thumb has not 
been well copied even though the thumb has - it is a reasonable explanation 
for the abos' poor abilities with tools, and we may even extrapolate to a 
general neural deficiency in this regard, not just thumbs.  [The reason for 
it could be that imitation of form is easier than imitation of function, or 
it might be a consequence of copying the Shadow Children, who also abandoned 
their tools.  Maybe with more tool-using humans around nowadays, the abos 
will get better over time.  But I digress.  These detailed speculations are 
not germane to the issue of VRT's mention of Dollo's Law.]

So why does he mention Dollo's Law?  He is making an analogy between 
evolution and his learning to write.  Because the condition of his thumb 
(or, as I suggested, the neural networks giving fine muscle control over its 
use) is analogous to the vestigial leg-bones of the snakes.  They will not 
learn to walk by developing these vestigial traits, but by developing some 
other organ, e.g. the scales.  VRT will not learn to write by developing the 
use of his thumb, but by developing a new way of holding the pen with his 
fingers.

As an anthropologist, or the imitation of one, evolutionary analogies come 
naturally to him.  That is all there is to it.

Note, incidentally, that whatever one's interpretation of Dollo's Law, it is 
clearly linked to his writing.  It follows directly from a discussion of it, 
and then there is a section break before he discusses the location of his 
cell and is then reminded of the mysterious brass implement.

> And, of course, the obvious question: why does an Abo know about an 
> obscure evolutionary
> principle postulated by some Belgian guy on earth in 1890 and connect it 
> to his handwriting?
> Sound more like something an anthropologist would know about. If a minute 
> portion of the
> brain's wiring can be imitated surely a thumb can be. Seem to be serious 
> doubt over whether
> Dr. Marsch really has been replaced. There are a lot of cats about. 
> Perhaps one bit his hand.

If we are going to have a novel involving a shapechanging alien who copies a 
human, we are going to have to swallow a small camel or two (which does not 
mean we have licence to swallow herds of them wholesale).  By some means, 
unlikely as it may seem, VRT has come to not only somewhat resemble Marsch 
in outward appearance, but also pose with some success as a professional 
anthropologist.  Perhaps he has gleaned the knowledge from any texts Marsch 
brought with him, and from public libraries.  Perhaps there is also some 
psychic transmission of knowledge from the original to the copy; they were 
in contact for a long period.  It is not necessary to be an anthropologist 
to know of Dollo's Law - Gene Wolfe knows of it, for one.

- Gerry Quinn

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