In discussing her view of quantum entanglement, Barad reviews Einstein and Bohr’s understandings of objectivity. Einstein argued that there must be separability between the observer and the observed in order for there to be objectivity. Bohr, on the other hand, argues that the observer and the observed can be entangled because what matters for objectivity is that the object being measured leaves “unambiguous” and “reproducible” marks for the observer. Barad draws from Bohr’s understanding of objectivity and concludes that the human observer is not separate from the phenomenon he/she observes, but entangled with the object of observation. The human “seeks to understand the emergence of the ‘human’ along with all other physical systems”.

 A lot of our discussions have revolved around our ability to make ourselves happy, and how much of our happiness is genetically inclined. What makes people happy is truly dependent on environment, and what people expect out of life. I feel like in America, our happiness levels are much harder to get to because we are used to instant gratification all the time. The means of survival has no longer become a central issue in our everyday lives. We’ve gone past the necessity to survive, and towards the goal of thriving. Life is not about living anymore, it is striving towards making things “better”, which is in essence what will make us “happier”. Because we are always striving towards this goal, we don’t stop to think how we may be happy already.

I tried to fit this in somewhere in my post because I thought it was a cool example of musical notation but I couldn't think of where to put it.

We talked this week about the function of stories. I think that stories reveal us to ourselves. Powers' novel is simply transparent about the manner in which the story acts a mirror for the readers. I find it interesting that several people in our group (ewashburn, klitrell) called Thassa a “Mary Sue” (a term for a character with no flaws) – when I don't think that's necessarily true. I think her flaws are difficult for us to see because we look through Stone's eyes, and he views Thassa as a marvelous being. Perhaps most obviously, one of her flaws is her happiness, since it proves to be her (maybe?) downfall.

 In class today we discussed where prose is heading in our digitized world of short attention spans. In a world where we read in 140 characters or less and in which we spend an average of five minutes reading the New York Times online, is Powers' novel foreshadowing the kind of abbreviated prose and fragments structure that will be seen more often in the coming years? Where is our beloved novel headed?