I think this Physician's letter is a good example in how he noticed how Stoppard somehow became able to understand bits and pieces of how physical reality functions which is how the deep thinkers in literature or the theater, uncover the secrets of the universe. I'm in no way any sort of expert and this may be a little too simplistic. But the physical reality universe is linked up into a vast parallel mental universe of which Stoppard was able to very fully inhabit. It seems Stoppard was able to observe randomity in the mental universe with previously unobserved odd linkages between very diverse elements which continually show up in his best plays. The metastatic quality of cancer is an excellent example of how randomity occurs in how cancer cells spread throughout the body like guerrilla soldiers spreading terror and destruction in order to bring the body down. I know of a lady with 4th stage breast cancer where the scans showed malignant cancer cells all over and inside the bones and internal organs. So her doctors put her on an immuno therapy treatment schedule. Then they would do followup scans to see how it was working. The immune cells or the active agents were like antiguerrilla fighters hunting only the malignant cells wherever they were. Then in her last scan, it didn't spot any cancer at all but she said the doctors wasn't actually in remission. This immuno therapy probably never would have been figured out if not approached through the lens of randomity. And Stoppard always put our attention on this aspect within the parallel mental and physical universe. And he illustrated that the theater is not detached from harsh reality or brimming life experience, but in the best plays is overwhelming filled with it.
There's been some discussion about how accurate this (delightful!) anecdote might be.
“Lovely letter, but unfortunately I don't think that can be true. Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer was first used from the mid-70s. Maybe seeing Arcadia was when Baum first understood *why* it was effective? Doesn't make sense otherwise – it was widely used much earlier.”
If you haven’t seen this update: https://x.com/MichaelBaum11/status/1995804481804452276?s=20
Ah I had not! Thanks
I think this Physician's letter is a good example in how he noticed how Stoppard somehow became able to understand bits and pieces of how physical reality functions which is how the deep thinkers in literature or the theater, uncover the secrets of the universe. I'm in no way any sort of expert and this may be a little too simplistic. But the physical reality universe is linked up into a vast parallel mental universe of which Stoppard was able to very fully inhabit. It seems Stoppard was able to observe randomity in the mental universe with previously unobserved odd linkages between very diverse elements which continually show up in his best plays. The metastatic quality of cancer is an excellent example of how randomity occurs in how cancer cells spread throughout the body like guerrilla soldiers spreading terror and destruction in order to bring the body down. I know of a lady with 4th stage breast cancer where the scans showed malignant cancer cells all over and inside the bones and internal organs. So her doctors put her on an immuno therapy treatment schedule. Then they would do followup scans to see how it was working. The immune cells or the active agents were like antiguerrilla fighters hunting only the malignant cells wherever they were. Then in her last scan, it didn't spot any cancer at all but she said the doctors wasn't actually in remission. This immuno therapy probably never would have been figured out if not approached through the lens of randomity. And Stoppard always put our attention on this aspect within the parallel mental and physical universe. And he illustrated that the theater is not detached from harsh reality or brimming life experience, but in the best plays is overwhelming filled with it.
Doesn't matter to me whether it is legit or not. It's a good story. And always good to infuse the sciences with art.
Wow
There's been some discussion about how accurate this (delightful!) anecdote might be.
“Lovely letter, but unfortunately I don't think that can be true. Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer was first used from the mid-70s. Maybe seeing Arcadia was when Baum first understood *why* it was effective? Doesn't make sense otherwise – it was widely used much earlier.”
https://bsky.app/profile/oh-henry.bsky.social/post/3m6ypy3snkk2t
Seems legit on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Baum_(surgeon)