The Point of View | Page 3

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,