FF: Reductive Theories
Title: Reductive Theories
Author: ollixanna
Rating/Warnings: PG/none
Word Count: 888
Summary: Sheldon has grown up with the simple belief that everything in life can be reduced to the Newton’s three basic of laws…
Search-by Link: ollixanna
AN: Long time shipper, first time poster. First fic for this ship. Etc, etc. This entire fic inspired by this quote from a book I'm reading right now.
Physics is a domain in which a reduction of complex phenomena to simpler ones has been particularly successful.
However, many complex behaviors in biological and social sciences seem not to yield as well to a reductive approach.
- Sandra D. Mitchell, Unsimple Truths: Science, Complexity, and Policy
---
Sheldon has grown up with the simple belief that everything in life can be reduced to the Newton’s three basic of laws…
Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
His father is a good man, he provides for his family, believes in God, and respects his mother. Except when the external force of alcohol influences his usual state of motion.
Alcohol makes him harsh, and difficult to be around, when he's home. He makes Sheldon wish for impossible things and fight that much harder to get away. He makes Junior grow up faster than he should. He makes Missy resent her twin, who more interested in theories than facing what is right in front of him.
His father is a good man, or so the preacher reminds them when he comes to pray with them after they found him passed out in the front yard.
Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass, the greater the amount of force needed to accelerate the object.
Sheldon stays in grade school longer than he should have because no one knows quite what to make of his memory and his intellect. He fails kindergarten because he has no interest in naming colors or dealing with (what he considers) the absolute idiocy of his peers. He doesn’t believe in their tests and prefers to read his own books, so of course he fails.
But once he meets Mr. Rice, things change faster than he realizes. Mr. Rice pushes him and helps him find his limits, then teaches him how to surpass those limits. Many years sooner than expected, he finds himself with a bachelor’s degree, and many offers from many graduate schools that want to be the school that instructed his genius.
He is a little more than grateful that Mr. Rice took a liking to him, he doesn’t like to think about where he could’ve been without him.
He knows he might still be in Galveston, flipping burgers at Fudd’s while his sister takes care of the customers if he hadn’t met Mr. Rice. He also knows his career may have taken any number of turns had others taken interest in him sooner.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
His mother will always say that she loves each of her children equal, but she does not say that she understands them equal. Sheldon has always required extra care, and George has always been more of his father’s child than anything else.
Her sons couldn’t be more different if they were day and night; at least day and night have some middle ground.
Sheldon moves to California, and his brother moves to North Carolina. Sheldon trains minds, and his brother trains horses. Sheldon is all theories and possibilities, and George is all reality and practicality.
George and Sheldon had the same parents, and grew up in the same house, but the only thing they have in common is that each boy has their own idea about what life is about and they stick to it.
---
Sheldon knows these laws, and he has always been able to reduce any situation down to these three laws. His life has always made sense.
But Penny doesn’t understand his reduction system, she doesn’t compartmentalize into one neat law. She’s a mess and she’s a spitfire of a woman and he doesn’t know why he can’t reduce her into any of these three laws.
She’s beyond everything he’s ever had to comprehend. She tests him and at times outwits him. Her company is enjoyable most of the time, even better when they talk about home. There are some things people (who’ve lived in a city all their lives) just don’t understand.
She could be a force, she could be acting on him, but it doesn’t exactly feel that way.
There’s the operative word, feel.
He’s not sure what to write when he tries to explain how’s she’s changed his life. She forces him to try to understand social cues more often. She also tries to adapt her own life to his from time to time, which could be an equal and opposite reaction, except maybe she’s trying much harder than he is, so it isn’t equal in any sense of the word. She doesn’t quite bend to his will, and she doesn’t bend to his every whim, so they aren’t exactly forces acting upon each other but there is some exchange of energy there. And they both have retained their relative states of motion. She's still trying to be an actress while waitressing, and he’s still employed by CalTech, in the same position.
Every night he spends an hour trying to describe her, to turn her into an equation he can understand, and each successive try brings him no closer than his first attempt. She is a paradox, and he thinks that means something.
(Or his social scientist friend has suggested.)
Author: ollixanna
Rating/Warnings: PG/none
Word Count: 888
Summary: Sheldon has grown up with the simple belief that everything in life can be reduced to the Newton’s three basic of laws…
Search-by Link: ollixanna
AN: Long time shipper, first time poster. First fic for this ship. Etc, etc. This entire fic inspired by this quote from a book I'm reading right now.
Physics is a domain in which a reduction of complex phenomena to simpler ones has been particularly successful.
However, many complex behaviors in biological and social sciences seem not to yield as well to a reductive approach.
- Sandra D. Mitchell, Unsimple Truths: Science, Complexity, and Policy
---
Sheldon has grown up with the simple belief that everything in life can be reduced to the Newton’s three basic of laws…
Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
His father is a good man, he provides for his family, believes in God, and respects his mother. Except when the external force of alcohol influences his usual state of motion.
Alcohol makes him harsh, and difficult to be around, when he's home. He makes Sheldon wish for impossible things and fight that much harder to get away. He makes Junior grow up faster than he should. He makes Missy resent her twin, who more interested in theories than facing what is right in front of him.
His father is a good man, or so the preacher reminds them when he comes to pray with them after they found him passed out in the front yard.
Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass, the greater the amount of force needed to accelerate the object.
Sheldon stays in grade school longer than he should have because no one knows quite what to make of his memory and his intellect. He fails kindergarten because he has no interest in naming colors or dealing with (what he considers) the absolute idiocy of his peers. He doesn’t believe in their tests and prefers to read his own books, so of course he fails.
But once he meets Mr. Rice, things change faster than he realizes. Mr. Rice pushes him and helps him find his limits, then teaches him how to surpass those limits. Many years sooner than expected, he finds himself with a bachelor’s degree, and many offers from many graduate schools that want to be the school that instructed his genius.
He is a little more than grateful that Mr. Rice took a liking to him, he doesn’t like to think about where he could’ve been without him.
He knows he might still be in Galveston, flipping burgers at Fudd’s while his sister takes care of the customers if he hadn’t met Mr. Rice. He also knows his career may have taken any number of turns had others taken interest in him sooner.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
His mother will always say that she loves each of her children equal, but she does not say that she understands them equal. Sheldon has always required extra care, and George has always been more of his father’s child than anything else.
Her sons couldn’t be more different if they were day and night; at least day and night have some middle ground.
Sheldon moves to California, and his brother moves to North Carolina. Sheldon trains minds, and his brother trains horses. Sheldon is all theories and possibilities, and George is all reality and practicality.
George and Sheldon had the same parents, and grew up in the same house, but the only thing they have in common is that each boy has their own idea about what life is about and they stick to it.
---
Sheldon knows these laws, and he has always been able to reduce any situation down to these three laws. His life has always made sense.
But Penny doesn’t understand his reduction system, she doesn’t compartmentalize into one neat law. She’s a mess and she’s a spitfire of a woman and he doesn’t know why he can’t reduce her into any of these three laws.
She’s beyond everything he’s ever had to comprehend. She tests him and at times outwits him. Her company is enjoyable most of the time, even better when they talk about home. There are some things people (who’ve lived in a city all their lives) just don’t understand.
She could be a force, she could be acting on him, but it doesn’t exactly feel that way.
There’s the operative word, feel.
He’s not sure what to write when he tries to explain how’s she’s changed his life. She forces him to try to understand social cues more often. She also tries to adapt her own life to his from time to time, which could be an equal and opposite reaction, except maybe she’s trying much harder than he is, so it isn’t equal in any sense of the word. She doesn’t quite bend to his will, and she doesn’t bend to his every whim, so they aren’t exactly forces acting upon each other but there is some exchange of energy there. And they both have retained their relative states of motion. She's still trying to be an actress while waitressing, and he’s still employed by CalTech, in the same position.
Every night he spends an hour trying to describe her, to turn her into an equation he can understand, and each successive try brings him no closer than his first attempt. She is a paradox, and he thinks that means something.
(Or his social scientist friend has suggested.)