# Transcript

Tim:

Sorry John, wasn’t expecting you to let me in so quickly. I wondered whether the reference to ‘mum’ is actually a reference to a different ethical viewpoint, a sort of arbiter, if you like, that’s going to be different from the two brothers.

Peter:

Yes and I guess we all have ideas about family relationships, brother relationships, parental relationships, so to me ‘mum’ represents something that’s wholesome, and she would want to think you’re doing good son, and hence it’s a standard that you’d want to adhere to. Later on, there’s a reference to father but maybe John’s going to come onto that.

John:

Well the father’s a fairly fleeting reference. I think the thing I would think about ‘mums’ is I expect them to be pretty pragmatic about everything. We’ve got some ‘mums’ here that might be able to tell me whether I’m right or not. But I think you’re right that by saying “Does mum know?”, it does bring in another kind of ethic, a practical ethic that presumably a mum that is perhaps a little proud of her son so she wouldn’t want to criticise her son’s work.

Peter:

And I think that raises a point here. We’re all going to have different ideas about what ‘mum’ is. Is she pragmatic or is she wholesome, is she just loving, all those things and the same thing about all these family relationships. Individually, we’re going to obviously reference our own experience.

Frank:

Yes, possibly referencing our own experience but my thought about the ‘mum’ was that she wasn’t going to be swayed by the money, by the jobs. I thought that she would be most concerned about her son’s ethical viewpoint and probably she would be quite negative about this idea of war because, as a mother, she understands the other mothers whose children are going to get killed by this technology.

Janet:

Yes, I also got the impression that because of the way that Dan asked the question “Does mum know?” that he might have expected her to have perhaps slightly different views, be a little concerned about the ethics.

Tim:

I would agree with that. I think when Dan asked that question, I think he was hinting to Ned that mum would probably disapprove of this and I think Ned’s response suggests that he actually would agree because I think he said that he didn’t want mum to know.

John:

Well yes, Ned dismisses it. He says, “What’s it got to do with mum?” And he says, “The whole thing’s beyond her comprehension.” And there are other characters, oh sorry.

Peter:

I was just thinking, as soon as you said that, John, Freud would say well there’s a problem there with the mother/son relationship about dismissing what’s mum got to do with this.

Janet:

Yes, actually that comment actually gave me the impression that probably mum did know and had already expressed her disapproval.

John:

Yes but it does look as though Ned is trying to suppress all of that so he’s what’s it got to do with mum and perhaps he didn’t like what he heard. It also emerges, of course, that Ned’s estranged wife gets emotional about his work so it sounds as though she might possibly disapprove but he says she gets emotional so he doesn’t talk to her about it. He’s really worried about his sister-in-law who’s got strong views on “war and killing people”. The net result of this is really that Ned has evaded discussion about his project and, as a result, has kind of got a one sided view. He’s ignorant of what might, in the long run, be of concern to him.

Tim:

Yes, that bit I think had echoes for me with the debate in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s I guess in the scientific community about whether scientists should be concerned about the uses that their inventions would be put to or not and there was a lot of burying the head in the sand I think of saying well we just do the inventing, it’s not our problem what people choose to do with it. That resonated quite strongly with the ‘70s I think for me.

John:

Yes, I mean interesting your comment and all this discussion’s come out of that simple phrase “Does mum know?” I think that’s amazing piece of dialogue, just those few words, raises all sorts of thoughts in people’s minds and all sorts of feelings.