of 20th century social science
was its neurotic rejection
of the classical standards
of literary culture
(as effeminate)
in favor of
cargo-cult-level emulation
of mathematical physics
(as manly)
so the challenge
for 21st century social science
is to
outgrow those neuroses
clear away the
fake math
find a new math
that's compatible with
the wisdom of old literature
that offers a toolkit
for sketching paths
for robot behavior
go-there
do-this
test-result
a toolkit rich enough
also
to sketch the paths
of fictional heroes
Leopold Bloom
Stephen Dedalus
Anna Karenin
Frederic Moreau of L'Education sentimentale
Charles Swann of Proust's Recherche
of historical figures
Joyce
Napoleon
abstracting their motives
reconstructing
their developmental life-histories
their families
their communities
as embedded
within the Tree of Life
topologically connected
4D worldlines
whose full detail
(though unattainable)
would crystallise
all possible
literature
.
