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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22895-h.zip b/22895-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..33ef28e --- /dev/null +++ b/22895-h.zip diff --git a/22895-h/22895-h.htm b/22895-h/22895-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66e24dd --- /dev/null +++ b/22895-h/22895-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1226 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Point of View, by Stanley G. Weinbaum + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + h1 {text-align: center; clear: both; margin-bottom: 2em;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin: 2em auto; clear: both;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .trans1 {border: solid 1px; margin: 2em 15% 4em; padding: 1em; text-align: justify;} + + p.cap:first-letter {padding-left: 50%; vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 4em; line-height: .7em;} + p.cap:first-line {font-variant: small-caps;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Point of View, by Stanley Grauman Weinbaum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Point of View + +Author: Stanley Grauman Weinbaum + +Release Date: October 5, 2007 [EBook #22895] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POINT OF VIEW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="trans1"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b><br /> +This etext was produced from <i>A Martian Odyssey and Others</i> +published in 1949. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence +that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor +spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.</div> + + + +<h1>THE POINT OF VIEW</h1> + + + + +<p class="cap">"I am too modest!" snapped +the great Haskel van Manderpootz, pacing irritably about the +limited area of his private laboratory, glaring at me the while. +"That is the trouble. I undervalue my own achievements, and +thereby permit petty imitators like Corveille to influence the committee +and win the Morell prize."</p> + +<p>"But," I said soothingly, "you've won the Morell physics +award half a dozen times, professor. They can't very well give +it to you every year."</p> + +<p>"Why not, since it is plain that I deserve it?" bristled the +professor. "Understand, Dixon, that I do not regret my modesty, +even though it permits conceited fools like Corveille, who have +infinitely less reason than I for conceit, to win awards that mean +nothing save prizes for successful bragging. Bah! To grant an +award for research along such obvious lines that I neglected to +mention them, thinking that even a Morell judge would appreciate +their obviousness! Research on the psychon, eh! Who discovered +the psychon? Who but van Manderpootz?"</p> + +<p>"Wasn't that what you got last year's award for?" I asked +consolingly. "And after all, isn't this modesty, this lack of jealousy +on your part, a symbol of greatness of character?"</p> + +<p>"True—true!" said the great van Manderpootz, mollified. +"Had such an affront been committed against a lesser man than +myself, he would doubtless have entered a bitter complaint against +the judges. But not I. Anyway, I know from experience that +it wouldn't do any good. And besides, despite his greatness, van +Manderpootz is as modest and shrinking as a violet." At this +point he paused, and his broad red face tried to look violet-like.</p> + +<p>I suppressed a smile. I knew the eccentric genius of old, +from the days when I had been Dixon Wells, undergraduate student +of engineering, and had taken a course in Newer Physics +(that is, in Relativity) under the famous professor. For some +unguessable reason, he had taken a fancy to me, and as a result, +I had been involved in several of his experiments since graduation. +There was the affair of the subjunctivisor, for instance, +and also that of the idealizator; in the first of these episodes I had +suffered the indignity of falling in love with a girl two weeks after +she was apparently dead, and in the second, the equal or greater +indignity of falling in love with a girl who didn't exist, never had +existed, and never would exist—in other words, with an ideal. +Perhaps I'm a little susceptible to feminine charms, or rather, +perhaps I used to be, for since the disaster of the idealizator, I +have grimly relegated such follies to the past, much to the disgust +of various 'vision entertainers, singers, dancers, and the like.</p> + +<p>So of late I had been spending my days very seriously, trying +wholeheartedly to get to the office on time just once, so that I +could refer to it next time my father accused me of never getting +anywhere on time. I hadn't succeeded yet, but fortunately the +N. J. Wells Corporation was wealthy enough to survive even +without the full-time services of Dixon Wells, or should I say +even <i>with</i> them? Anyway, I'm sure my father preferred to have +me late in the morning after an evening with van Manderpootz +than after one with Tips Alva or Whimsy White, or one of the +numerous others of the ladies of the 'vision screen. Even in the +twenty-first century, he retained a lot of old-fashioned ideas.</p> + +<p>Van Manderpootz had ceased to remember that he was as +modest and shrinking as a violet. "It has just occurred to me," +he announced impressively, "that years have character much as +humans have. This year, 2015, will be remembered in history +as a very stupid year, in which the Morell prize was given to a +nincompoop. Last year, on the other hand, was a very intelligent +year, a jewel in the crown of civilization. Not only was the Morell +prize given to van Manderpootz, but I announced my discrete +field theory in that year, and the University unveiled Gogli's +statue of me as well." He sighed. "Yes, a very intelligent year! +What do you think?"</p> + +<p>"It depends on how you look at it," I responded glumly. "I +didn't enjoy it so much, what with Joanna Caldwell and Denise +d'Agrion, and your infernal experiments. It's all in the point +of view."</p> + +<p>The professor snorted. "Infernal experiments, eh! Point of +view! Of course it's all in the point of view. Even Einstein's +simple little synthesis was enough to prove that. If the whole +world could adopt an intelligent and admirable point of view—that +of van Manderpootz, for instance—all troubles would be over. +If it were possible—" He paused, and an expression of amazed +wonder spread over his ruddy face.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Matter? I am astonished! The astounding depths of genius +awe me. I am overwhelmed with admiration at the incalculable +mysteries of a great mind."</p> + +<p>"I don't get the drift."</p> + +<p>"Dixon," he said impressively, "you have been privileged to +look upon an example of the workings of a genius. More than +that, you have planted the seed from which perhaps shall grow +the towering tree of thought. Incredible as it seems, you, Dixon +Wells, have given van Manderpootz an idea! It is thus that genius +seizes upon the small, the unimportant, the negligible, and turns +it to its own grand purposes. I stand awe-struck!"</p> + +<p>"But what—?"</p> + +<p>"Wait," said van Manderpootz, still in rapt admiration of +the majesty of his own mind. "When the tree bears fruit, you +shall see it. Until then, be satisfied that you have played a part +in its planting."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It was perhaps a month before I saw van Manderpootz again, +but one bright spring evening his broad, rubicund face looked out +of the phone-screen at me.</p> + +<p>"It's ready," he announced impressively.</p> + +<p>"What is?"</p> + +<p>The professor looked pained at the thought that I could +have forgotten. "The tree has borne fruit," he explained. "If +you wish to drop over to my quarters, we'll proceed to the laboratory +and try it out. I do not set a time, so that it will be utterly +impossible for you to be late."</p> + +<p>I ignored that last dig, but had a time been set, I would +doubtless have been even later than usual, for it was with some +misgivings that I induced myself to go at all. I still remembered +the unpleasantness of my last two experiences with the inventions +of van Manderpootz. However, at last we were seated in the +small laboratory, while out in the larger one the professor's technical +assistant, Carter, puttered over some device, and in the far +corner his secretary, the plain and unattractive Miss Fitch, transcribed +lecture notes, for van Manderpootz abhorred the thought +that his golden utterances might be lost to posterity. On the +table between the professor and myself lay a curious device, something +that looked like a cross between a pair of nose-glasses and +a miner's lamp.</p> + +<p>"There it is," said van Manderpootz proudly. "There lies my +attitudinizor, which may well become an epoch-making device."</p> + +<p>"How? What does it do?"</p> + +<p>"I will explain. The germ of the idea traces back to that +remark of yours about everything depending on the point of view. +A very obvious statement, of course, but genius seizes on the obvious +and draws from it the obscure. Thus the thoughts of even +the simplest mind can suggest to the man of genius his sublime +conceptions, as is evident from the fact that I got this idea from +you."</p> + +<p>"What idea?"</p> + +<p>"Be patient. There is much you must understand first. You +must realize just how true is the statement that everything depends +on the point of view. Einstein proved that motion, space, +and time depend on the particular point of view of the observer, +or as he expressed it, on the scale of reference used. I go farther +than that, infinitely farther. I propound the theory that the observer +<i>is</i> the point of view. I go even beyond that, I maintain +that the world itself is merely the point of view!"</p> + +<p>"Huh?"</p> + +<p>"Look here," proceeded van Manderpootz. "It is obvious +that the world I see is entirely different from the one in which +you live. It is equally obvious that a strictly religious man occupies +a different world than that of a materialist. The fortunate +man lives in a happy world; the unfortunate man sees a world +of misery. One man is happy with little, another is miserable with +much. Each sees the world from his own point of view, which is +the same as saying that each lives in his own world. Therefore +there are as many worlds as there are points of view."</p> + +<p>"But," I objected, "that theory is to disregard reality. Out of +all the different points of view, there must be one that is right, +and all the rest are wrong."</p> + +<p>"One would think so," agreed the professor. "One would +think that between the point of view of you, for instance, as contrasted +with that of, say van Manderpootz, there would be small +doubt as to which was correct. However, early in the twentieth +century, Heisenberg enunciated his Principle of Uncertainty, +which proved beyond argument that a completely accurate scientific +picture of the world is quite impossible, that the law of +cause and effect is merely a phase of the law of chance, that no +infallible predictions can ever be made, and that what science +used to call natural laws are really only descriptions of the way in +which the human mind perceives nature. In other words, the +character of the world depends entirely on the mind observing it, +or, to return to my earlier statement, the point of view."</p> + +<p>"But no one can ever really understand another person's point +of view," I said. "It isn't fair to undermine the whole basis of +science because you can't be sure that the color we both call red +wouldn't look green to you if you could see it through my eyes."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said van Manderpootz triumphantly. "So we come +now to my attitudinizor. Suppose that it were possible for me +to see through your eyes, or you through mine. Do you see what +a boon such an ability would be to humanity? Not only from the +standpoint of science, but also because it would obviate all +troubles due to misunderstandings. And even more." Shaking +his finger, the professor recited oracularly, "'Oh, wad some pow'r +the giftie gie us to see oursel's as ithers see us.' Van Manderpootz +is that power, Dixon. Through my attitudinizor, one may at last +adopt the viewpoint of another. The poet's plaint of more than +two centuries ago is answered at last."</p> + +<p>"How the devil do you see through somebody else's eyes?"</p> + +<p>"Very simply. You will recall the idealizator. Now it is obvious +that when I peered over your shoulder and perceived in the +mirror your conception of the ideal woman, I was, to a certain +extent, adopting your point of view. In that case the psychons +given off by your mind were converted into quanta of visible light, +which could be seen. In the case of my attitudinizor, the process +is exactly reversed. One flashes the beam of this light on the subject +whose point of view is desired; the visible light is reflected +back with a certain accompaniment of psychons, which are here +intensified to a degree which will permit them to be, so to speak, +appreciated?"</p> + +<p>"Psychons?"</p> + +<p>"Have you already forgotten my discovery of the unit particle +of thought? Must I explain again how the cosmons, chronons, spations, +psychons, and all other particles are interchangeable? And +that," he continued abstractedly, "leads to certain interesting +speculations. Suppose I were to convert, say, a ton of material +protons and electrons into spations—that is, convert matter into +space. I calculate that a ton of matter will produce approximately +a cubic mile of space. Now the question is, where would we put +it, since all the space we have is already occupied by space? Or +if I manufactured an hour or two of time? It is obvious that we +have no time to fit in an extra couple of hours, since all our time +is already accounted for. Doubtless it will take a certain amount +of thought for even van Manderpootz to solve these problems, +but at the moment I am curious to watch the workings of the +attitudinizor. Suppose you put it on, Dixon."</p> + +<p>"I? Haven't <i>you</i> tried it out yet?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not. In the first place, what has van Manderpootz +to gain by studying the viewpoints of other people? The +object of the device is to permit people to study nobler viewpoints +than their own. And in the second place, I have asked myself +whether it is fair to the world for van Manderpootz to be the +first to try out a new and possibly untrustworthy device, and I +reply, 'No!'"</p> + +<p>"But <i>I</i> should try it out, eh? Well, everytime I try out any +of your inventions I find myself in some kind of trouble. I'd be +a fool to go around looking for more difficulty, wouldn't I?"</p> + +<p>"I assure you that <i>my</i> viewpoint will be much less apt to get +you into trouble than your own," said van Manderpootz with +dignity. "There will be no question of your becoming involved in +some impossible love affair as long as you stick to that."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, despite the assurance of the great scientist, I +was more than a little reluctant to don the device. Yet I was +curious, as well; it seemed a fascinating prospect to be able to +look at the world through other eyes, as fascinating as visiting +a new world—which it was, according to the professor. So after +a few moments of hesitation, I picked up the instrument, slipped +it over my head so that the eyeglasses were in the proper position, +and looked inquiringly at van Manderpootz.</p> + +<p>"You must turn it on," he said, reaching over and clicking a +switch on the frame. "Now flash the light to my face. That's +the way; just center the circle of light on my face. And now +what do you see?"</p> + +<p>I didn't answer; what I saw was, for the moment, quite indescribable. +I was completely dazed and bewildered, and it was +only when some involuntary movement of my head at last flashed +the light from the professor's face to the table top that a measure +of sanity returned, which proves at least that tables do not possess +any point of view.</p> + +<p>"O-o-o-h!" I gasped.</p> + +<p>Van Manderpootz beamed. "Of course you are overwhelmed. +One could hardly expect to adopt the view of van Manderpootz +without some difficulties of adjustment. A second time will be +easier."</p> + +<p>I reached up and switched off the light. "A second time will +not only be easier, but also impossible," I said crossly. "I'm not +going to experience another dizzy spell like that for anybody."</p> + +<p>"But of course you will, Dixon. I am certain that the dizziness +will be negligible on the second trial. Naturally the unexpected +heights affected you, much as if you were to come without +warning to the brink of a colossal precipice. But this time you +will be prepared, and the effect will be much less."</p> + +<p>Well, it was. After a few moments I was able to give my +full attention to the phenomena of the attitudinizor, and queer +phenomena they were, too. I scarcely know how to describe the +sensation of looking at the world through the filter of another's +mind. It is almost an indescribable experience, but so, in the +ultimate analysis, is any other experience.</p> + +<p>What I saw first was a kaleidoscopic array of colors and +shapes, but the amazing, astounding, inconceivable thing about +the scene was that there was no single color I could recognize! +The eyes of van Manderpootz, or perhaps his brain, interpreted +color in a fashion utterly alien to the way in which my own functioned, +and the resultant spectrum was so bizarre that there is +simply no way of describing any single tint in words. To say, as +I did to the professor, that his conception of red looked to me +like a shade between purple and green conveys absolutely no +meaning, and the only way a third person could appreciate the +meaning would be to examine my point of view through an attitudinizor +<i>while</i> I was examining that of van Manderpootz. Thus +he could apprehend my conception of van Manderpootz's reaction +to the color red.</p> + +<p>And shapes! It took me several minutes to identify the weird, +angular, twisted, distorted appearance in the center of the room +as the plain laboratory table. The room itself, aside from its queer +form, looked smaller, perhaps because van Manderpootz is somewhat +larger than I.</p> + +<p>But by far the strangest part of his point of view had nothing +to do with the outlook upon the physical world, but with the +more fundamental elements—with his <i>attitudes</i>. Most of his +thoughts, on that first occasion, were beyond me, because I had +not yet learned to interpret the personal symbolism in which he +thought. But I did understand his attitudes. There was Carter, +for instance, toiling away out in the large laboratory; I saw at +once what a plodding, unintelligent drudge he seemed to van +Manderpootz. And there was Miss Fitch; I confess that she had +always seemed unattractive to me, but my impression of her was +Venus herself beside that of the professor! She hardly seemed +human to him and I am sure that he never thought of her as a +woman, but merely as a piece of convenient but unimportant +laboratory equipment.</p> + +<p>At this point I caught a glimpse of myself through the eyes +of van Manderpootz. Ouch! Perhaps I'm not a genius, but I'm +dead certain that I'm not the grinning ape I appeared to be in +his eyes. And perhaps I'm not exactly the handsomest man in +the world either, but if I thought I looked like that—! And then, +to cap the climax, I apprehended van Manderpootz's conception +of himself!</p> + +<p>"That's enough!" I yelled. "I won't stay around here just +to be insulted. I'm through!"</p> + +<p>I tore the attitudinizor from my head and tossed it to the +table, feeling suddenly a little foolish at the sight of the grin on +the face of the professor.</p> + +<p>"That is hardly the spirit which has led science to its great +achievements, Dixon," he observed amiably. "Suppose you describe +the nature of the insults, and if possible, something about +the workings of the attitudinizor as well. After all, that is what +you were supposed to be observing."</p> + +<p>I flushed, grumbled a little, and complied. Van Manderpootz +listened with great interest to my description of the difference in +our physical worlds, especially the variations in our perceptions +of form and color.</p> + +<p>"What a field for an artist!" he ejaculated at last. "Unfortunately, +it is a field that must remain forever untapped, because +even though an artist examined a thousand viewpoints and learned +innumerable new colors, his pigments would continue to impress +his audience with the same old colors each of them had always +known." He sighed thoughtfully, and then proceeded. "However, +the device is apparently quite safe to use. I shall therefore try it +briefly, bringing to the investigation a calm, scientific mind which +refuses to be troubled by the trifles that seem to bother you."</p> + +<p>He donned the attitudinizor, and I must confess that he +stood the shock of the first trial somewhat better than I did. After +a surprised "Oof!" he settled down to a complacent analysis of +my point of view, while I sat somewhat self-consciously under his +calm appraisal. Calm, that is, for about three minutes.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he leaped to his feet, tearing the device from a face +whose normal ruddiness had deepened to a choleric angry color. +"Get out!" he roared. "So <i>that's</i> the way van Manderpootz looks +to you! Moron! Idiot! Imbecile! Get out!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It was a week or ten days later that I happened to be passing +the University on my way from somewhere to somewhere +else, and I fell to wondering whether the professor had yet forgiven +me. There was a light in the window of his laboratory over +in the Physics Building, so I dropped in, making my way past the +desk where Carter labored, and the corner where Miss Fitch sat +in dull primness at her endless task of transcribing lecture notes.</p> + +<p>Van Manderpootz greeted me cordially enough, but with a +curious assumption of melancholy in his manner. "Ah, Dixon," +he began, "I am glad to see you. Since our last meeting, I have +learned much of the stupidity of the world, and it appears to me +now that you are actually one of the more intelligent contemporary +minds."</p> + +<p>This from van Manderpootz! "Why—thank you," I said.</p> + +<p>"It is true. For some days I have sat at the window overlooking +the street there, and have observed the viewpoints of the passers-by. +Would you believe"—his voice lowered—"would you believe +that only seven and four-tenths percent are even aware of the +<i>existence</i> of van Manderpootz? And doubtless many of the few +that are, come from among the students in the neighborhood. I +knew that the average level of intelligence was low, but it had +not occurred to me that it was as low as that."</p> + +<p>"After all," I said consolingly, "you must remember that the +achievements of van Manderpootz are such as to attract the attention +of the intelligent few rather than of the many."</p> + +<p>"A very silly paradox!" he snapped. "On the basis of that +theory, since the higher one goes in the scale of intelligence, the +fewer individuals one finds, the greatest achievement of all is one +that <i>nobody</i> has heard of. By that test you would be greater than +van Manderpootz, an obvious <i>reductio ad absurdum</i>."</p> + +<p>He glared his reproof that I should even have thought of the +point, then something in the outer laboratory caught his ever-observant +eye.</p> + +<p>"Carter!" he roared. "Is that a synobasical interphasometer +in the positronic flow? Fool! What sort of measurements do you +expect to make when your measuring instrument itself is part of +the experiment? Take it out and start over!"</p> + +<p>He rushed away toward the unfortunate technician. I settled +idly back in my chair and stared about the small laboratory, +whose walls had seen so many marvels. The latest, the attitudinizor, +lay carelessly on the table, dropped there by the professor +after his analysis of the mass viewpoint of the pedestrians in the +street below.</p> + +<p>I picked up the device and fell to examining its construction. +Of course this was utterly beyond me, for no ordinary engineer +can hope to grasp the intricacies of a van Manderpootz concept. +So, after a puzzled but admiring survey of its infinitely delicate +wires and grids and lenses, I made the obvious move. I put it on.</p> + +<p>My first thought was the street, but since the evening was +well along, the walk below the window was deserted. Back in +my chair again, I sat musing idly when a faint sound that was +not the rumbling of the professor's voice attracted my attention. +I identified it shortly as the buzzing of a heavy fly, butting its +head stupidly against the pane of glass that separated the small +laboratory from the large room beyond. I wondered casually +what the viewpoint of a fly was like, and ended by flashing the +light on the creature.</p> + +<p>For some moments I saw nothing other than I had been +seeing right along from my own personal point of view, because, +as van Manderpootz explained later, the psychons from the miserable +brain of a fly are too few to produce any but the vaguest +of impressions. But gradually I became aware of a picture, a +queer and indescribable scene.</p> + +<p>Flies are color-blind. That was my first impression, for the +world was a dull panorama of greys and whites and blacks. Flies +are extremely nearsighted; when I had finally identified the scene +as the interior of the familiar room, I discovered that it seemed +enormous to the insect, whose vision did not extend more than +six feet, though it did take in almost a complete sphere, so that +the creature could see practically in all directions at once. But +perhaps the most astonishing thing, though I did not think of it +until later, was that the compound eye of the insect, did not +convey to it the impression of a vast number of separate pictures, +such as the eye produces when a microphotograph is taken +through it. The fly sees one picture just as we do; in the same +way as our brain rights the upside-down image cast on our retina, +the fly's brain reduces the compound image to one. And beyond +these impressions were a wild hodge-podge of smell-sensations, and +a strange desire to burst through the invisible glass barrier into +the brighter light beyond. But I had no time to analyze these +sensations, for suddenly there was a flash of something infinitely +clearer than the dim cerebrations of a fly.</p> + +<p>For half a minute or longer I was unable to guess what that +momentary flash had been. I knew that I had seen something incredibly +lovely, that I had tapped a viewpoint that looked upon +something whose very presence caused ecstasy, but whose viewpoint +it was, or what that flicker of beauty had been, were questions +beyond my ability to answer.</p> + +<p>I slipped off the attitudinizor and sat staring perplexedly at +the buzzing fly on the pane of glass. Out in the other room van +Manderpootz continued his harangue to the repentant Carter, and +off in a corner invisible from my position I could hear the rustle +of papers as Miss Fitch transcribed endless notes. I puzzled vainly +over the problem of what had happened, and then the solution +dawned on me.</p> + +<p>The fly must have buzzed between me and one of the occupants +of the outer laboratory. I had been following its flight with +the faintly visible beam of the attitudinizor's light, and that beam +must have flickered momentarily on the head of one of the three +beyond the glass. But which? Van Manderpootz himself? It must +have been either the professor or Carter, since the secretary was +quite beyond range of the light.</p> + +<p>It seemed improbable that the cold and brilliant mind of +van Manderpootz could be the agency of the sort of emotional +ecstasy I had sensed. It must therefore, have been the head of +the mild and inoffensive little Carter that the beam had tapped. +With a feeling of curiosity I slipped the device back on my own +head and sent the beam sweeping dimly into the larger room.</p> + +<p>It did not at the time occur to me that such a procedure was +quite as discreditable as eavesdropping, or even more dishonorable, +if you come right down to it, because it meant the theft of +far more personal information than one could ever convey by the +spoken word. But all I considered at the moment was my own +curiosity; I wanted to learn what sort of viewpoint could produce +that strange, instantaneous flash of beauty. If the proceeding was +unethical—well, Heaven knows I was punished for it.</p> + +<p>So I turned the attitudinizor on Carter. At the moment, he +was listening respectfully to van Manderpootz, and I sensed +clearly his respect for the great man, a respect that had in it a +distinct element of fear. I could hear Carter's impression of the +booming voice of the professor, sounding somewhat like the modulated +thunder of a god, which was not far from the little man's +actual opinion of his master. I perceived Carter's opinion of himself, +and his self-picture was an even more mouselike portrayal +than my own impression of him. When, for an instant, he glanced +my way, I sensed his impression of me, and while I'm sure that +Dixon Wells is not the imbecile he appears to van Manderpootz, +I'm equally sure that he's not the debonair man of the world he +seemed to Carter. All in all, Carter's point of view seemed that +of a timid, inoffensive, retiring, servile little man, and I wondered +all the more what could have caused that vanished flash of beauty +in a mind like his.</p> + +<p>There was no trace of it now. His attention was completely +taken up by the voice of van Manderpootz, who had passed from +a personal appraisal of Carter's stupidity to a general lecture on +the fallacies of the unified field theory as presented by his rivals +Corveille and Shrimski. Carter was listening with an almost +worshipful regard, and I could feel his surges of indignation +against the villains who dared to disagree with the authority of +van Manderpootz.</p> + +<p>I sat there intent on the strange double vision of the attitudinizor, +which was in some respects like a Horsten psychomat—that +is, one is able to see both through his own eyes and through +the eyes of his subject. Thus I could see van Manderpootz and +Carter quite clearly, but at the same time I could see or sense +what Carter saw and sensed. Thus I perceived suddenly through +my own eyes that the professor had ceased talking to Carter, and +had turned at the approach of somebody as yet invisible to me, +while at the same time, through Carter's eyes, I saw that vision of +ecstasy which had flashed for a moment in his mind. I saw—description +is utterly impossible, but I saw a woman who, except +possibly for the woman of the idealizator screen, was the most +beautiful creature I had ever seen!</p> + +<p>I say description is impossible. That is the literal truth, +for her coloring, her expression, her figure, as seen through Carter's +eyes, were completely unlike anything expressible by words. I +was fascinated, I could do nothing but watch, and I felt a wild +surge of jealousy as I caught the adoration in the attitude of the +humble Carter. She was glorious, magnificent, indescribable. +It was with an effort that I untangled myself from the web of +fascination enough to catch Carter's thought of her name. "Lisa," +he was thinking. "Lisa."</p> + +<p>What she said to van Manderpootz was in tones too low +for me to hear, and apparently too low for Carter's ears as well, +else I should have heard her words through the attitudinizor. +But both of us heard van Manderpootz's bellow in answer.</p> + +<p>"I don't care how the dictionary pronounces the word!" +he roared. "The way van Manderpootz pronounces a word is +right!"</p> + +<p>The glorious Lisa turned silently and vanished. For a few +moments I watched her through Carter's eyes, but as she neared +the laboratory door, he turned his attention again to van Manderpootz, +and she was lost to my view.</p> + +<p>And as I saw the professor close his dissertation and approach +me, I slipped the attitudinizor from my head and forced myself +to a measure of calm.</p> + +<p>"Who is she?" I demanded. "I've got to meet her!"</p> + +<p>He looked blankly at me. "Who's who?"</p> + +<p>"Lisa! Who's Lisa?"</p> + +<p>There was not a flicker in the cool blue eyes of van Manderpootz. +"I don't know any Lisa," he said indifferently.</p> + +<p>"But you were just talking to her! Right out there!"</p> + +<p>Van Manderpootz stared curiously at me; then little by +little a shrewd suspicion seemed to dawn in his broad, intelligent +features. "Hah!" he said. "Have you, by any chance, been +using the attitudinizor?"</p> + +<p>I nodded, chill apprehension gripping me.</p> + +<p>"And is it also true that you chose to investigate the viewpoint +of Carter out there?" At my nod, he stepped to the door +that joined the two rooms, and closed it. When he faced me +again, it was with features working into lines of amusement +that suddenly found utterance in booming laughter. "Haw!" +he roared. "Do you know who beautiful Lisa is? She's Fitch!"</p> + +<p>"Fitch? You're mad! She's glorious, and Fitch is plain +and scrawny and ugly. Do you think I'm a fool?"</p> + +<p>"You ask an embarrassing question," chuckled the professor. +"Listen to me, Dixon. The woman you saw was my secretary, +Miss Fitch, seen through the eyes of Carter. Don't you understand? +The idiot Carter's in love with her!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I suppose I walked the upper levels half the night, oblivious +alike of the narrow strip of stars that showed between the towering +walls of twenty-first century New York, and the intermittent +roar of traffic from the freight levels. Certainly this was the +worst predicament of all those into which the fiendish contraptions +of the great van Manderpootz had thrust me.</p> + +<p>In love with a point of view! In love with a woman who +had no existence apart from the beglamoured eyes of Carter. +It wasn't Lisa Fitch I loved; indeed, I rather hated her angular +ugliness. What I had fallen in love with was the way she looked +to Carter, for there is nothing in the world quite as beautiful +as a lover's conception of his sweetheart.</p> + +<p>This predicament was far worse than my former ones. When +I had fallen in love with a girl already dead, I could console myself +with the thought of what might have been. When I had +fallen in love with my own ideal—well, at least she was <i>mine</i>, +even if I couldn't have her. But to fall in love with another +man's conception! The only way that conception could even +continue to exist was for Carter to remain in love with Lisa +Fitch, which rather effectually left me outside the picture altogether. +She was absolutely unattainable to me, for Heaven +knows I didn't want the real Lisa Fitch—"real" meaning, of +course, the one who was real to me. I suppose in the end Carter's +Lisa Fitch was as real as the skinny scarecrow my eyes saw.</p> + +<p>She was unattainable—or was she? Suddenly an echo of +a long-forgotten psychology course recurred to me. Attitudes +are habits. Viewpoints are attitudes. Therefore viewpoints are +habits. And habits can be learned!</p> + +<p>There was the solution! All I had to do was to learn, or +to acquire by practice, the viewpoint of Carter. What I had +to do was literally to put myself in his place, to look at things +in his way, to see his viewpoint. For once I learned to do that, +I could see in Lisa Fitch the very things he saw, and the vision +would become reality to me as well as to him.</p> + +<p>I planned carefully. I did not care to face the sarcasm of +the great van Manderpootz; therefore I would work in secret. +I would visit his laboratory at such times as he had classes or +lectures, and I would use the attitudinizor to study the viewpoint +of Carter, and to, as it were, practice that viewpoint. Thus +I would have the means at hand of testing my progress, for all +I had to do was glance at Miss Fitch without the attitudinizor. +As soon as I began to perceive in her what Carter saw, I would +know that success was imminent.</p> + +<p>Those next two weeks were a strange interval of time. I +haunted the laboratory of van Manderpootz at odd hours, having +learned from the University office what periods he devoted to +his courses. When one day I found the attitudinizor missing, +I prevailed on Carter to show me where it was kept, and he, +influenced doubtless by my friendship for the man he practically +worshipped, indicated the place without question. But later +I suspect that he began to doubt his wisdom in this, for I know +he thought it very strange for me to sit for long periods staring +at him; I caught all sorts of puzzled questions in his mind, +though as I have said, these were hard for me to decipher until +I began to learn Carter's personal system of symbolism by which +he thought. But at least one man was pleased—my father, who +took my absences from the office and neglect of business as +signs of good health and spirits, and congratulated me warmly +on the improvement.</p> + +<p>But the experiment was beginning to work, I found myself +sympathizing with Carter's viewpoint, and little by little the +mad world in which he lived was becoming as logical as my +own. I learned to recognize colors through his eyes; I learned +to understand form and shape; most fundamental of all, I learned +his values, his attitudes, his tastes. And these last were a little +inconvenient at times, for on the several occasions when I supplemented +my daily calls with visits to van Manderpootz in +the evening, I found some difficulty in separating my own respectful +regard for the great man from Carter's unreasoning +worship, with the result that I was on the verge of blurting out +the whole thing to him several times. And perhaps it was a +guilty conscience, but I kept thinking that the shrewd blue eyes +of the professor rested on me with a curiously suspicious expression +all evening.</p> + +<p>The thing was approaching its culmination. Now and +then, when I looked at the angular ugliness of Miss Fitch, I began +to catch glimpses of the same miraculous beauty that Carter +found in her—glimpses only, but harbingers of success. Each +day I arrived at the laboratory with increasing eagerness, for each +day brought me nearer to the achievement I sought. That is, my +eagerness increased until one day I arrived to find neither Carter +nor Miss Fitch present, but van Manderpootz, who should have +been delivering a lecture on indeterminism, very much in evidence.</p> + +<p>"Uh—hello," I said weakly.</p> + +<p>"Umph!" he responded, glaring at me. "So Carter was +right, I see. Dixon, the abysmal stupidity of the human race +continually astounds me with new evidence of its astronomical +depths, but I believe this escapade of yours plumbs the uttermost +regions of imbecility."</p> + +<p>"M-my escapade?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think you can escape the piercing eye of van Manderpootz? +As soon as Carter told me you had been here in my +absence, my mind leaped nimbly to the truth. But Carter's information +was not even necessary, for half an eye was enough to detect +the change in your attitude on these last few evening visits. +So you've been trying to adopt Carter's viewpoint, eh? No doubt +with the idea of ultimately depriving him of the charming Miss +Fitch!"</p> + +<p>"W-why—"</p> + +<p>"Listen to me, Dixon. We will disregard the ethics of the +thing and look at it from a purely rational viewpoint, if a rational +viewpoint is possible to anybody but van Manderpootz. +Don't you realize that in order to attain Carter's attitude toward +Fitch, you would have to adopt his <i>entire</i> viewpoint? Not," +he added tersely, "that I think his point of view is greatly inferior +to yours, but I happen to prefer the viewpoint of a donkey +to that of a mouse. Your particular brand of stupidity is more +agreeable to me than Carter's timid, weak, and subservient nature, +and some day you will thank me for this. Was his impression +of Fitch worth the sacrifice of your own personality?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Well, whether it was or not, van Manderpootz has decided +the matter in the wisest way. For it's too late now, Dixon. I +have given them both a month's leave and sent them away—on +a honeymoon. They left this morning."</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Point of View, by Stanley Grauman Weinbaum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POINT OF VIEW *** + +***** This file should be named 22895-h.htm or 22895-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/8/9/22895/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Point of View + +Author: Stanley Grauman Weinbaum + +Release Date: October 5, 2007 [EBook #22895] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POINT OF VIEW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _A Martian Odyssey and Others_ + published in 1949. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence + that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor + spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + +THE POINT OF VIEW + + + + +"I am too modest!" snapped the great Haskel van Manderpootz, pacing +irritably about the limited area of his private laboratory, glaring at +me the while. "That is the trouble. I undervalue my own achievements, +and thereby permit petty imitators like Corveille to influence the +committee and win the Morell prize." + +"But," I said soothingly, "you've won the Morell physics award half a +dozen times, professor. They can't very well give it to you every year." + +"Why not, since it is plain that I deserve it?" bristled the professor. +"Understand, Dixon, that I do not regret my modesty, even though it +permits conceited fools like Corveille, who have infinitely less reason +than I for conceit, to win awards that mean nothing save prizes for +successful bragging. Bah! To grant an award for research along such +obvious lines that I neglected to mention them, thinking that even a +Morell judge would appreciate their obviousness! Research on the +psychon, eh! Who discovered the psychon? Who but van Manderpootz?" + +"Wasn't that what you got last year's award for?" I asked consolingly. +"And after all, isn't this modesty, this lack of jealousy on your part, +a symbol of greatness of character?" + +"True--true!" said the great van Manderpootz, mollified. "Had such an +affront been committed against a lesser man than myself, he would +doubtless have entered a bitter complaint against the judges. But not I. +Anyway, I know from experience that it wouldn't do any good. And +besides, despite his greatness, van Manderpootz is as modest and +shrinking as a violet." At this point he paused, and his broad red face +tried to look violet-like. + +I suppressed a smile. I knew the eccentric genius of old, from the days +when I had been Dixon Wells, undergraduate student of engineering, and +had taken a course in Newer Physics (that is, in Relativity) under the +famous professor. For some unguessable reason, he had taken a fancy to +me, and as a result, I had been involved in several of his experiments +since graduation. There was the affair of the subjunctivisor, for +instance, and also that of the idealizator; in the first of these +episodes I had suffered the indignity of falling in love with a girl two +weeks after she was apparently dead, and in the second, the equal or +greater indignity of falling in love with a girl who didn't exist, never +had existed, and never would exist--in other words, with an ideal. +Perhaps I'm a little susceptible to feminine charms, or rather, perhaps +I used to be, for since the disaster of the idealizator, I have grimly +relegated such follies to the past, much to the disgust of various +'vision entertainers, singers, dancers, and the like. + +So of late I had been spending my days very seriously, trying +wholeheartedly to get to the office on time just once, so that I could +refer to it next time my father accused me of never getting anywhere on +time. I hadn't succeeded yet, but fortunately the N. J. Wells +Corporation was wealthy enough to survive even without the full-time +services of Dixon Wells, or should I say even _with_ them? Anyway, I'm +sure my father preferred to have me late in the morning after an evening +with van Manderpootz than after one with Tips Alva or Whimsy White, or +one of the numerous others of the ladies of the 'vision screen. Even in +the twenty-first century, he retained a lot of old-fashioned ideas. + +Van Manderpootz had ceased to remember that he was as modest and +shrinking as a violet. "It has just occurred to me," he announced +impressively, "that years have character much as humans have. This year, +2015, will be remembered in history as a very stupid year, in which the +Morell prize was given to a nincompoop. Last year, on the other hand, +was a very intelligent year, a jewel in the crown of civilization. Not +only was the Morell prize given to van Manderpootz, but I announced my +discrete field theory in that year, and the University unveiled Gogli's +statue of me as well." He sighed. "Yes, a very intelligent year! What do +you think?" + +"It depends on how you look at it," I responded glumly. "I didn't enjoy +it so much, what with Joanna Caldwell and Denise d'Agrion, and your +infernal experiments. It's all in the point of view." + +The professor snorted. "Infernal experiments, eh! Point of view! Of +course it's all in the point of view. Even Einstein's simple little +synthesis was enough to prove that. If the whole world could adopt an +intelligent and admirable point of view--that of van Manderpootz, for +instance--all troubles would be over. If it were possible--" He paused, +and an expression of amazed wonder spread over his ruddy face. + +"What's the matter?" I asked. + +"Matter? I am astonished! The astounding depths of genius awe me. I am +overwhelmed with admiration at the incalculable mysteries of a great +mind." + +"I don't get the drift." + +"Dixon," he said impressively, "you have been privileged to look upon an +example of the workings of a genius. More than that, you have planted +the seed from which perhaps shall grow the towering tree of thought. +Incredible as it seems, you, Dixon Wells, have given van Manderpootz an +idea! It is thus that genius seizes upon the small, the unimportant, the +negligible, and turns it to its own grand purposes. I stand awe-struck!" + +"But what--?" + +"Wait," said van Manderpootz, still in rapt admiration of the majesty of +his own mind. "When the tree bears fruit, you shall see it. Until then, +be satisfied that you have played a part in its planting." + + * * * * * + +It was perhaps a month before I saw van Manderpootz again, but one +bright spring evening his broad, rubicund face looked out of the +phone-screen at me. + +"It's ready," he announced impressively. + +"What is?" + +The professor looked pained at the thought that I could have forgotten. +"The tree has borne fruit," he explained. "If you wish to drop over to +my quarters, we'll proceed to the laboratory and try it out. I do not +set a time, so that it will be utterly impossible for you to be late." + +I ignored that last dig, but had a time been set, I would doubtless +have been even later than usual, for it was with some misgivings that I +induced myself to go at all. I still remembered the unpleasantness of my +last two experiences with the inventions of van Manderpootz. However, at +last we were seated in the small laboratory, while out in the larger one +the professor's technical assistant, Carter, puttered over some device, +and in the far corner his secretary, the plain and unattractive Miss +Fitch, transcribed lecture notes, for van Manderpootz abhorred the +thought that his golden utterances might be lost to posterity. On the +table between the professor and myself lay a curious device, something +that looked like a cross between a pair of nose-glasses and a miner's +lamp. + +"There it is," said van Manderpootz proudly. "There lies my +attitudinizor, which may well become an epoch-making device." + +"How? What does it do?" + +"I will explain. The germ of the idea traces back to that remark of +yours about everything depending on the point of view. A very obvious +statement, of course, but genius seizes on the obvious and draws from it +the obscure. Thus the thoughts of even the simplest mind can suggest to +the man of genius his sublime conceptions, as is evident from the fact +that I got this idea from you." + +"What idea?" + +"Be patient. There is much you must understand first. You must realize +just how true is the statement that everything depends on the point of +view. Einstein proved that motion, space, and time depend on the +particular point of view of the observer, or as he expressed it, on the +scale of reference used. I go farther than that, infinitely farther. I +propound the theory that the observer _is_ the point of view. I go even +beyond that, I maintain that the world itself is merely the point of +view!" + +"Huh?" + +"Look here," proceeded van Manderpootz. "It is obvious that the world I +see is entirely different from the one in which you live. It is equally +obvious that a strictly religious man occupies a different world than +that of a materialist. The fortunate man lives in a happy world; the +unfortunate man sees a world of misery. One man is happy with little, +another is miserable with much. Each sees the world from his own point +of view, which is the same as saying that each lives in his own world. +Therefore there are as many worlds as there are points of view." + +"But," I objected, "that theory is to disregard reality. Out of all the +different points of view, there must be one that is right, and all the +rest are wrong." + +"One would think so," agreed the professor. "One would think that +between the point of view of you, for instance, as contrasted with that +of, say van Manderpootz, there would be small doubt as to which was +correct. However, early in the twentieth century, Heisenberg enunciated +his Principle of Uncertainty, which proved beyond argument that a +completely accurate scientific picture of the world is quite impossible, +that the law of cause and effect is merely a phase of the law of chance, +that no infallible predictions can ever be made, and that what science +used to call natural laws are really only descriptions of the way in +which the human mind perceives nature. In other words, the character of +the world depends entirely on the mind observing it, or, to return to my +earlier statement, the point of view." + +"But no one can ever really understand another person's point of view," +I said. "It isn't fair to undermine the whole basis of science because +you can't be sure that the color we both call red wouldn't look green to +you if you could see it through my eyes." + +"Ah!" said van Manderpootz triumphantly. "So we come now to my +attitudinizor. Suppose that it were possible for me to see through your +eyes, or you through mine. Do you see what a boon such an ability would +be to humanity? Not only from the standpoint of science, but also +because it would obviate all troubles due to misunderstandings. And even +more." Shaking his finger, the professor recited oracularly, "'Oh, wad +some pow'r the giftie gie us to see oursel's as ithers see us.' Van +Manderpootz is that power, Dixon. Through my attitudinizor, one may at +last adopt the viewpoint of another. The poet's plaint of more than two +centuries ago is answered at last." + +"How the devil do you see through somebody else's eyes?" + +"Very simply. You will recall the idealizator. Now it is obvious that +when I peered over your shoulder and perceived in the mirror your +conception of the ideal woman, I was, to a certain extent, adopting your +point of view. In that case the psychons given off by your mind were +converted into quanta of visible light, which could be seen. In the +case of my attitudinizor, the process is exactly reversed. One flashes +the beam of this light on the subject whose point of view is desired; +the visible light is reflected back with a certain accompaniment of +psychons, which are here intensified to a degree which will permit them +to be, so to speak, appreciated?" + +"Psychons?" + +"Have you already forgotten my discovery of the unit particle of +thought? Must I explain again how the cosmons, chronons, spations, +psychons, and all other particles are interchangeable? And that," he +continued abstractedly, "leads to certain interesting speculations. +Suppose I were to convert, say, a ton of material protons and electrons +into spations--that is, convert matter into space. I calculate that a +ton of matter will produce approximately a cubic mile of space. Now the +question is, where would we put it, since all the space we have is +already occupied by space? Or if I manufactured an hour or two of time? +It is obvious that we have no time to fit in an extra couple of hours, +since all our time is already accounted for. Doubtless it will take a +certain amount of thought for even van Manderpootz to solve these +problems, but at the moment I am curious to watch the workings of the +attitudinizor. Suppose you put it on, Dixon." + +"I? Haven't _you_ tried it out yet?" + +"Of course not. In the first place, what has van Manderpootz to gain by +studying the viewpoints of other people? The object of the device is to +permit people to study nobler viewpoints than their own. And in the +second place, I have asked myself whether it is fair to the world for +van Manderpootz to be the first to try out a new and possibly +untrustworthy device, and I reply, 'No!'" + +"But _I_ should try it out, eh? Well, everytime I try out any of your +inventions I find myself in some kind of trouble. I'd be a fool to go +around looking for more difficulty, wouldn't I?" + +"I assure you that _my_ viewpoint will be much less apt to get you into +trouble than your own," said van Manderpootz with dignity. "There will +be no question of your becoming involved in some impossible love affair +as long as you stick to that." + +Nevertheless, despite the assurance of the great scientist, I was more +than a little reluctant to don the device. Yet I was curious, as well; +it seemed a fascinating prospect to be able to look at the world through +other eyes, as fascinating as visiting a new world--which it was, +according to the professor. So after a few moments of hesitation, I +picked up the instrument, slipped it over my head so that the eyeglasses +were in the proper position, and looked inquiringly at van Manderpootz. + +"You must turn it on," he said, reaching over and clicking a switch on +the frame. "Now flash the light to my face. That's the way; just center +the circle of light on my face. And now what do you see?" + +I didn't answer; what I saw was, for the moment, quite indescribable. I +was completely dazed and bewildered, and it was only when some +involuntary movement of my head at last flashed the light from the +professor's face to the table top that a measure of sanity returned, +which proves at least that tables do not possess any point of view. + +"O-o-o-h!" I gasped. + +Van Manderpootz beamed. "Of course you are overwhelmed. One could hardly +expect to adopt the view of van Manderpootz without some difficulties of +adjustment. A second time will be easier." + +I reached up and switched off the light. "A second time will not only be +easier, but also impossible," I said crossly. "I'm not going to +experience another dizzy spell like that for anybody." + +"But of course you will, Dixon. I am certain that the dizziness will be +negligible on the second trial. Naturally the unexpected heights +affected you, much as if you were to come without warning to the brink +of a colossal precipice. But this time you will be prepared, and the +effect will be much less." + +Well, it was. After a few moments I was able to give my full attention +to the phenomena of the attitudinizor, and queer phenomena they were, +too. I scarcely know how to describe the sensation of looking at the +world through the filter of another's mind. It is almost an +indescribable experience, but so, in the ultimate analysis, is any other +experience. + +What I saw first was a kaleidoscopic array of colors and shapes, but the +amazing, astounding, inconceivable thing about the scene was that there +was no single color I could recognize! The eyes of van Manderpootz, or +perhaps his brain, interpreted color in a fashion utterly alien to the +way in which my own functioned, and the resultant spectrum was so +bizarre that there is simply no way of describing any single tint in +words. To say, as I did to the professor, that his conception of red +looked to me like a shade between purple and green conveys absolutely no +meaning, and the only way a third person could appreciate the meaning +would be to examine my point of view through an attitudinizor _while_ I +was examining that of van Manderpootz. Thus he could apprehend my +conception of van Manderpootz's reaction to the color red. + +And shapes! It took me several minutes to identify the weird, angular, +twisted, distorted appearance in the center of the room as the plain +laboratory table. The room itself, aside from its queer form, looked +smaller, perhaps because van Manderpootz is somewhat larger than I. + +But by far the strangest part of his point of view had nothing to do +with the outlook upon the physical world, but with the more fundamental +elements--with his _attitudes_. Most of his thoughts, on that first +occasion, were beyond me, because I had not yet learned to interpret the +personal symbolism in which he thought. But I did understand his +attitudes. There was Carter, for instance, toiling away out in the large +laboratory; I saw at once what a plodding, unintelligent drudge he +seemed to van Manderpootz. And there was Miss Fitch; I confess that she +had always seemed unattractive to me, but my impression of her was Venus +herself beside that of the professor! She hardly seemed human to him and +I am sure that he never thought of her as a woman, but merely as a piece +of convenient but unimportant laboratory equipment. + +At this point I caught a glimpse of myself through the eyes of van +Manderpootz. Ouch! Perhaps I'm not a genius, but I'm dead certain that +I'm not the grinning ape I appeared to be in his eyes. And perhaps I'm +not exactly the handsomest man in the world either, but if I thought I +looked like that--! And then, to cap the climax, I apprehended van +Manderpootz's conception of himself! + +"That's enough!" I yelled. "I won't stay around here just to be +insulted. I'm through!" + +I tore the attitudinizor from my head and tossed it to the table, +feeling suddenly a little foolish at the sight of the grin on the face +of the professor. + +"That is hardly the spirit which has led science to its great +achievements, Dixon," he observed amiably. "Suppose you describe the +nature of the insults, and if possible, something about the workings of +the attitudinizor as well. After all, that is what you were supposed to +be observing." + +I flushed, grumbled a little, and complied. Van Manderpootz listened +with great interest to my description of the difference in our physical +worlds, especially the variations in our perceptions of form and color. + +"What a field for an artist!" he ejaculated at last. "Unfortunately, it +is a field that must remain forever untapped, because even though an +artist examined a thousand viewpoints and learned innumerable new +colors, his pigments would continue to impress his audience with the +same old colors each of them had always known." He sighed thoughtfully, +and then proceeded. "However, the device is apparently quite safe to +use. I shall therefore try it briefly, bringing to the investigation a +calm, scientific mind which refuses to be troubled by the trifles that +seem to bother you." + +He donned the attitudinizor, and I must confess that he stood the shock +of the first trial somewhat better than I did. After a surprised "Oof!" +he settled down to a complacent analysis of my point of view, while I +sat somewhat self-consciously under his calm appraisal. Calm, that is, +for about three minutes. + +Suddenly he leaped to his feet, tearing the device from a face whose +normal ruddiness had deepened to a choleric angry color. "Get out!" he +roared. "So _that's_ the way van Manderpootz looks to you! Moron! Idiot! +Imbecile! Get out!" + + * * * * * + +It was a week or ten days later that I happened to be passing the +University on my way from somewhere to somewhere else, and I fell to +wondering whether the professor had yet forgiven me. There was a light +in the window of his laboratory over in the Physics Building, so I +dropped in, making my way past the desk where Carter labored, and the +corner where Miss Fitch sat in dull primness at her endless task of +transcribing lecture notes. + +Van Manderpootz greeted me cordially enough, but with a curious +assumption of melancholy in his manner. "Ah, Dixon," he began, "I am +glad to see you. Since our last meeting, I have learned much of the +stupidity of the world, and it appears to me now that you are actually +one of the more intelligent contemporary minds." + +This from van Manderpootz! "Why--thank you," I said. + +"It is true. For some days I have sat at the window overlooking the +street there, and have observed the viewpoints of the passers-by. Would +you believe"--his voice lowered--"would you believe that only seven and +four-tenths percent are even aware of the _existence_ of van +Manderpootz? And doubtless many of the few that are, come from among the +students in the neighborhood. I knew that the average level of +intelligence was low, but it had not occurred to me that it was as low +as that." + +"After all," I said consolingly, "you must remember that the +achievements of van Manderpootz are such as to attract the attention of +the intelligent few rather than of the many." + +"A very silly paradox!" he snapped. "On the basis of that theory, since +the higher one goes in the scale of intelligence, the fewer individuals +one finds, the greatest achievement of all is one that _nobody_ has +heard of. By that test you would be greater than van Manderpootz, an +obvious _reductio ad absurdum_." + +He glared his reproof that I should even have thought of the point, then +something in the outer laboratory caught his ever-observant eye. + +"Carter!" he roared. "Is that a synobasical interphasometer in the +positronic flow? Fool! What sort of measurements do you expect to make +when your measuring instrument itself is part of the experiment? Take it +out and start over!" + +He rushed away toward the unfortunate technician. I settled idly back in +my chair and stared about the small laboratory, whose walls had seen so +many marvels. The latest, the attitudinizor, lay carelessly on the +table, dropped there by the professor after his analysis of the mass +viewpoint of the pedestrians in the street below. + +I picked up the device and fell to examining its construction. Of course +this was utterly beyond me, for no ordinary engineer can hope to grasp +the intricacies of a van Manderpootz concept. So, after a puzzled but +admiring survey of its infinitely delicate wires and grids and lenses, I +made the obvious move. I put it on. + +My first thought was the street, but since the evening was well along, +the walk below the window was deserted. Back in my chair again, I sat +musing idly when a faint sound that was not the rumbling of the +professor's voice attracted my attention. I identified it shortly as the +buzzing of a heavy fly, butting its head stupidly against the pane of +glass that separated the small laboratory from the large room beyond. I +wondered casually what the viewpoint of a fly was like, and ended by +flashing the light on the creature. + +For some moments I saw nothing other than I had been seeing right along +from my own personal point of view, because, as van Manderpootz +explained later, the psychons from the miserable brain of a fly are too +few to produce any but the vaguest of impressions. But gradually I +became aware of a picture, a queer and indescribable scene. + +Flies are color-blind. That was my first impression, for the world was a +dull panorama of greys and whites and blacks. Flies are extremely +nearsighted; when I had finally identified the scene as the interior of +the familiar room, I discovered that it seemed enormous to the insect, +whose vision did not extend more than six feet, though it did take in +almost a complete sphere, so that the creature could see practically in +all directions at once. But perhaps the most astonishing thing, though I +did not think of it until later, was that the compound eye of the +insect, did not convey to it the impression of a vast number of separate +pictures, such as the eye produces when a microphotograph is taken +through it. The fly sees one picture just as we do; in the same way as +our brain rights the upside-down image cast on our retina, the fly's +brain reduces the compound image to one. And beyond these impressions +were a wild hodge-podge of smell-sensations, and a strange desire to +burst through the invisible glass barrier into the brighter light +beyond. But I had no time to analyze these sensations, for suddenly +there was a flash of something infinitely clearer than the dim +cerebrations of a fly. + +For half a minute or longer I was unable to guess what that momentary +flash had been. I knew that I had seen something incredibly lovely, that +I had tapped a viewpoint that looked upon something whose very presence +caused ecstasy, but whose viewpoint it was, or what that flicker of +beauty had been, were questions beyond my ability to answer. + +I slipped off the attitudinizor and sat staring perplexedly at the +buzzing fly on the pane of glass. Out in the other room van Manderpootz +continued his harangue to the repentant Carter, and off in a corner +invisible from my position I could hear the rustle of papers as Miss +Fitch transcribed endless notes. I puzzled vainly over the problem of +what had happened, and then the solution dawned on me. + +The fly must have buzzed between me and one of the occupants of the +outer laboratory. I had been following its flight with the faintly +visible beam of the attitudinizor's light, and that beam must have +flickered momentarily on the head of one of the three beyond the glass. +But which? Van Manderpootz himself? It must have been either the +professor or Carter, since the secretary was quite beyond range of the +light. + +It seemed improbable that the cold and brilliant mind of van Manderpootz +could be the agency of the sort of emotional ecstasy I had sensed. It +must therefore, have been the head of the mild and inoffensive little +Carter that the beam had tapped. With a feeling of curiosity I slipped +the device back on my own head and sent the beam sweeping dimly into the +larger room. + +It did not at the time occur to me that such a procedure was quite as +discreditable as eavesdropping, or even more dishonorable, if you come +right down to it, because it meant the theft of far more personal +information than one could ever convey by the spoken word. But all I +considered at the moment was my own curiosity; I wanted to learn what +sort of viewpoint could produce that strange, instantaneous flash of +beauty. If the proceeding was unethical--well, Heaven knows I was +punished for it. + +So I turned the attitudinizor on Carter. At the moment, he was listening +respectfully to van Manderpootz, and I sensed clearly his respect for +the great man, a respect that had in it a distinct element of fear. I +could hear Carter's impression of the booming voice of the professor, +sounding somewhat like the modulated thunder of a god, which was not far +from the little man's actual opinion of his master. I perceived Carter's +opinion of himself, and his self-picture was an even more mouselike +portrayal than my own impression of him. When, for an instant, he +glanced my way, I sensed his impression of me, and while I'm sure that +Dixon Wells is not the imbecile he appears to van Manderpootz, I'm +equally sure that he's not the debonair man of the world he seemed to +Carter. All in all, Carter's point of view seemed that of a timid, +inoffensive, retiring, servile little man, and I wondered all the more +what could have caused that vanished flash of beauty in a mind like his. + +There was no trace of it now. His attention was completely taken up by +the voice of van Manderpootz, who had passed from a personal appraisal +of Carter's stupidity to a general lecture on the fallacies of the +unified field theory as presented by his rivals Corveille and Shrimski. +Carter was listening with an almost worshipful regard, and I could feel +his surges of indignation against the villains who dared to disagree +with the authority of van Manderpootz. + +I sat there intent on the strange double vision of the attitudinizor, +which was in some respects like a Horsten psychomat--that is, one is +able to see both through his own eyes and through the eyes of his +subject. Thus I could see van Manderpootz and Carter quite clearly, but +at the same time I could see or sense what Carter saw and sensed. Thus I +perceived suddenly through my own eyes that the professor had ceased +talking to Carter, and had turned at the approach of somebody as yet +invisible to me, while at the same time, through Carter's eyes, I saw +that vision of ecstasy which had flashed for a moment in his mind. I +saw--description is utterly impossible, but I saw a woman who, except +possibly for the woman of the idealizator screen, was the most beautiful +creature I had ever seen! + +I say description is impossible. That is the literal truth, for her +coloring, her expression, her figure, as seen through Carter's eyes, +were completely unlike anything expressible by words. I was fascinated, +I could do nothing but watch, and I felt a wild surge of jealousy as I +caught the adoration in the attitude of the humble Carter. She was +glorious, magnificent, indescribable. It was with an effort that I +untangled myself from the web of fascination enough to catch Carter's +thought of her name. "Lisa," he was thinking. "Lisa." + +What she said to van Manderpootz was in tones too low for me to hear, +and apparently too low for Carter's ears as well, else I should have +heard her words through the attitudinizor. But both of us heard van +Manderpootz's bellow in answer. + +"I don't care how the dictionary pronounces the word!" he roared. "The +way van Manderpootz pronounces a word is right!" + +The glorious Lisa turned silently and vanished. For a few moments I +watched her through Carter's eyes, but as she neared the laboratory +door, he turned his attention again to van Manderpootz, and she was lost +to my view. + +And as I saw the professor close his dissertation and approach me, I +slipped the attitudinizor from my head and forced myself to a measure of +calm. + +"Who is she?" I demanded. "I've got to meet her!" + +He looked blankly at me. "Who's who?" + +"Lisa! Who's Lisa?" + +There was not a flicker in the cool blue eyes of van Manderpootz. "I +don't know any Lisa," he said indifferently. + +"But you were just talking to her! Right out there!" + +Van Manderpootz stared curiously at me; then little by little a shrewd +suspicion seemed to dawn in his broad, intelligent features. "Hah!" he +said. "Have you, by any chance, been using the attitudinizor?" + +I nodded, chill apprehension gripping me. + +"And is it also true that you chose to investigate the viewpoint of +Carter out there?" At my nod, he stepped to the door that joined the two +rooms, and closed it. When he faced me again, it was with features +working into lines of amusement that suddenly found utterance in booming +laughter. "Haw!" he roared. "Do you know who beautiful Lisa is? She's +Fitch!" + +"Fitch? You're mad! She's glorious, and Fitch is plain and scrawny and +ugly. Do you think I'm a fool?" + +"You ask an embarrassing question," chuckled the professor. "Listen to +me, Dixon. The woman you saw was my secretary, Miss Fitch, seen through +the eyes of Carter. Don't you understand? The idiot Carter's in love +with her!" + + * * * * * + +I suppose I walked the upper levels half the night, oblivious alike of +the narrow strip of stars that showed between the towering walls of +twenty-first century New York, and the intermittent roar of traffic +from the freight levels. Certainly this was the worst predicament of all +those into which the fiendish contraptions of the great van Manderpootz +had thrust me. + +In love with a point of view! In love with a woman who had no existence +apart from the beglamoured eyes of Carter. It wasn't Lisa Fitch I loved; +indeed, I rather hated her angular ugliness. What I had fallen in love +with was the way she looked to Carter, for there is nothing in the world +quite as beautiful as a lover's conception of his sweetheart. + +This predicament was far worse than my former ones. When I had fallen in +love with a girl already dead, I could console myself with the thought +of what might have been. When I had fallen in love with my own +ideal--well, at least she was _mine_, even if I couldn't have her. But +to fall in love with another man's conception! The only way that +conception could even continue to exist was for Carter to remain in love +with Lisa Fitch, which rather effectually left me outside the picture +altogether. She was absolutely unattainable to me, for Heaven knows I +didn't want the real Lisa Fitch--"real" meaning, of course, the one who +was real to me. I suppose in the end Carter's Lisa Fitch was as real as +the skinny scarecrow my eyes saw. + +She was unattainable--or was she? Suddenly an echo of a long-forgotten +psychology course recurred to me. Attitudes are habits. Viewpoints are +attitudes. Therefore viewpoints are habits. And habits can be learned! + +There was the solution! All I had to do was to learn, or to acquire by +practice, the viewpoint of Carter. What I had to do was literally to put +myself in his place, to look at things in his way, to see his viewpoint. +For once I learned to do that, I could see in Lisa Fitch the very things +he saw, and the vision would become reality to me as well as to him. + +I planned carefully. I did not care to face the sarcasm of the great van +Manderpootz; therefore I would work in secret. I would visit his +laboratory at such times as he had classes or lectures, and I would use +the attitudinizor to study the viewpoint of Carter, and to, as it were, +practice that viewpoint. Thus I would have the means at hand of testing +my progress, for all I had to do was glance at Miss Fitch without the +attitudinizor. As soon as I began to perceive in her what Carter saw, I +would know that success was imminent. + +Those next two weeks were a strange interval of time. I haunted the +laboratory of van Manderpootz at odd hours, having learned from the +University office what periods he devoted to his courses. When one day I +found the attitudinizor missing, I prevailed on Carter to show me where +it was kept, and he, influenced doubtless by my friendship for the man +he practically worshipped, indicated the place without question. But +later I suspect that he began to doubt his wisdom in this, for I know he +thought it very strange for me to sit for long periods staring at him; I +caught all sorts of puzzled questions in his mind, though as I have +said, these were hard for me to decipher until I began to learn Carter's +personal system of symbolism by which he thought. But at least one man +was pleased--my father, who took my absences from the office and neglect +of business as signs of good health and spirits, and congratulated me +warmly on the improvement. + +But the experiment was beginning to work, I found myself sympathizing +with Carter's viewpoint, and little by little the mad world in which he +lived was becoming as logical as my own. I learned to recognize colors +through his eyes; I learned to understand form and shape; most +fundamental of all, I learned his values, his attitudes, his tastes. And +these last were a little inconvenient at times, for on the several +occasions when I supplemented my daily calls with visits to van +Manderpootz in the evening, I found some difficulty in separating my own +respectful regard for the great man from Carter's unreasoning worship, +with the result that I was on the verge of blurting out the whole thing +to him several times. And perhaps it was a guilty conscience, but I kept +thinking that the shrewd blue eyes of the professor rested on me with a +curiously suspicious expression all evening. + +The thing was approaching its culmination. Now and then, when I looked +at the angular ugliness of Miss Fitch, I began to catch glimpses of the +same miraculous beauty that Carter found in her--glimpses only, but +harbingers of success. Each day I arrived at the laboratory with +increasing eagerness, for each day brought me nearer to the achievement +I sought. That is, my eagerness increased until one day I arrived to +find neither Carter nor Miss Fitch present, but van Manderpootz, who +should have been delivering a lecture on indeterminism, very much in +evidence. + +"Uh--hello," I said weakly. + +"Umph!" he responded, glaring at me. "So Carter was right, I see. Dixon, +the abysmal stupidity of the human race continually astounds me with new +evidence of its astronomical depths, but I believe this escapade of +yours plumbs the uttermost regions of imbecility." + +"M-my escapade?" + +"Do you think you can escape the piercing eye of van Manderpootz? As +soon as Carter told me you had been here in my absence, my mind leaped +nimbly to the truth. But Carter's information was not even necessary, +for half an eye was enough to detect the change in your attitude on +these last few evening visits. So you've been trying to adopt Carter's +viewpoint, eh? No doubt with the idea of ultimately depriving him of the +charming Miss Fitch!" + +"W-why--" + +"Listen to me, Dixon. We will disregard the ethics of the thing and look +at it from a purely rational viewpoint, if a rational viewpoint is +possible to anybody but van Manderpootz. Don't you realize that in order +to attain Carter's attitude toward Fitch, you would have to adopt his +_entire_ viewpoint? Not," he added tersely, "that I think his point of +view is greatly inferior to yours, but I happen to prefer the viewpoint +of a donkey to that of a mouse. Your particular brand of stupidity is +more agreeable to me than Carter's timid, weak, and subservient nature, +and some day you will thank me for this. Was his impression of Fitch +worth the sacrifice of your own personality?" + +"I--I don't know." + +"Well, whether it was or not, van Manderpootz has decided the matter in +the wisest way. For it's too late now, Dixon. I have given them both a +month's leave and sent them away--on a honeymoon. They left this +morning." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Point of View, by Stanley Grauman Weinbaum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POINT OF VIEW *** + +***** This file should be named 22895.txt or 22895.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/8/9/22895/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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