“Who Watches The Watchmen?”
Watchmen is a 1985 graphic novel that I first read years ago but have just reread. I’m glad that I did. I uncovered many additional layers of meaning from the story and will put it onto my shelf for future rereading. It’s that good.
The basic story line is that a group of aging superheroes emerges from retirement to first: investigate a murder of a colleague, and second, to unravel a sinister plot that has worldwide impacts.
Quotes
“For a guy his age, he was in terrific shape”. “What? You mean apart from being dead?”
“The dusk reeks of fornication and bad consciences”
“It’s funny, but certain faces seem to go in and out of style”
“Cities are just cesspools into which all the world’s dishonesty and greed and lust and godlessness drained and was left to fester unhindered”
“American love. Like Coke in green glass bottles. They don’t make it anymore”
“You don’t want to make me well. You want to know what makes me sick”
“None of you understand. I’m not locked up in here with you. You’re locked up in here with me”
“Bad neighborhood. Smelled of damp plaster and stained mattresses”
“We’re all puppets, Laurie. I’m just a puppet who can see the strings”
“An intractable problem can only be resolved by stepping beyond conventional solutions”
“What is it, Dan? What’s that smell of?” “Nostalgia”
Where Does Gold Come From?
In the book I read “Supernovas are where gold forms. The only place. All gold comes from Supernovas”
I was wondering if this were true.
I learned from an internet search that the collision of two neutron stars is now thought to produce most of the gold. Once formed, it is theorized that the gold was deposited on earth by an asteroid impact.
The collision has enough energy to apparently convert iron into gold, by a process that is called supernova nucleosynthesis.
I read that the estimated gold reserves on earth are 197 kMet.
Having learned all of this, I have several pages in my notebooks that were written with iron gall fountain pen ink. I guess if I wait long enough for the correct cosmic conditions, the writing on those pages will turn into gold!
Telling The Future About Electric Cars in 1985
p. 15 “Well, the new electric cars should be even simpler”
“Electric?”
“That’s right. They’d have appeared before, but there wasn’t enough lithium to mass produce poly-acetylene batteries”
Philosophical Topics
Watchmen is full of philosophical ideas and I’m certain that I missed quite a few. But, here are the ones that I uncovered on this latest reading
Fatalism: “I can’t prevent the future. To me, it’s already happening”
God-like: Dr. Manhattan can stop wars, but he can’t find love
Theory of Justice: “yet what are laws made for, if not to save mankind? And if those laws through unforeseen circumstances become no longer applicable, it it not more noble to follow the course of right and justice, to serve the spirit of the law rather than its every dot and comma?”
Determinism: “everything is pre-ordained. Even my responses”
Deontology: “don’t you see the futility of asking me to save the world I no longer have any stake in?”
Relativism/Consequentialism: “I did the right thing, didn’t I? It all worked out in the end.” “In the end? Nothing ever ends”
Topic for Future Study: Tachyon Interference
Tachyons are quantum particles that can travel faster than light. What? I thought that nothing was faster than light. Learning more about quantum physics is a longer term learning goal for me so at some point I’ll learn more about this.
An Obscure Reference that I Understood
In the book there is a reference to Burrough’s cut up technique. This is a creative writing system that uses random words to create a prompt for writing. I originally thought that I had invented this technique, but then discovered that William S. Burroughs invented it years before!
You can read more about the technique here. I’ve also found several apps that do that the same thing from digital material.