Editing Cat's Cradle (section)

== Background ==
After [[World War II]], Kurt Vonnegut worked in the public relations department for [[General Electric]] research company. GE hired scientists and let them do pure research, and his job was to interview these scientists and find good stories about their research. Vonnegut felt that the older scientists were indifferent about the ways their discoveries might be used. When science fiction author [[H. G. Wells]] visited the labs in the 30s, the [[Nobel Prize]]-winning chemist [[Irving Langmuir]] suggested for him the idea of a story about a form of ice stable at room temperature. Wells never took it any further, but Vonnegut's older brother [[Bernard Vonnegut|Bernard]], who was Langmuir's junior colleague at GE, remembered and told him about it. After both the author and the scientist had died, Vonnegut thought to himself "Finders, keepers – the idea is mine".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-chemistry-that-inspired-hg-wells/3008994.article|title=The chemistry that inspired H.G. Wells|first=Philip|last=Ball|website=Chemistryworld.com|access-date=14 December 2021}}</ref> Langmuir himself would become the model for Dr. Felix Hoenikker. Vonnegut said in an interview with ''[[The Nation]]'' that "Langmuir was absolutely indifferent to the uses that might be made of the truths he dug out of the rock and handed out to whoever was around, but any truth he found was beautiful in its own right, and he didn't give a damn who got it next."<ref name="The Nation">{{cite journal|last=Musil|first=Robert K.|date=2 August 1980|title=There Must Be More to Love Than Death: A Conversation With Kurt Vonnegut|journal=The Nation|volume= 231|issue= 4|pages=128–132|issn=0027-8378}}</ref> Dr. Felix Hoenikker's fictional invention of ''ice-nine'' was similar in name only to the real substance [[Ice IX]], one of a number of variant structures for ice. Langmuir had worked on seeding ice crystals to diminish or increase rain or storms.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/27/nyregion/bernard-vonnegut-82-physicist-who-coaxed-rain-from-the-sky.html |title=Bernard Vonnegut, 82, Physicist Who Coaxed Rain From the Sky| journal= NY Times |date=April 27, 1997 | author=Wolfgang Saxon}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | journal=Cosmos | url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/chemistry/the-genius-who-ended-up-in-a-kurt-vonnegut-novel/ | author=Jeff Glorfeld | date=June 9, 2019 | title=The genius who ended up in a Vonnegut novel | access-date=October 19, 2020 | archive-date=October 23, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023015447/https://cosmosmagazine.com/chemistry/the-genius-who-ended-up-in-a-kurt-vonnegut-novel/ | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | journal = The Atlantic | title= The Chemist Who Thought He Could Harness Hurricanes. Irving Langmuir's ill-fated attempts at seeding storms showed just how difficult it is to control the weather|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/09/weather-wars-cloud-seeding/538392/ |author= Sam Kean |date=Sep 5, 2017}}</ref>

===Setting===
{{Infobox fictional location
| name          = San Lorenzo
| alt_name      = Republic of San Lorenzo
| image         = Caribe-geográfico.svg
| caption       = General location of San Lorenzo
| image2        = Flag of San Lorenzo (Vonnegut).svg
| caption2      = Flag of San Lorenzo
| source        = Cat's Cradle
| creator       = [[Kurt Vonnegut]]
| genre         = [[Satire]]
| type          = [[Dictatorship]]
| ruler         = "Papa" Monzano
| locations     = Bolivar (capital)
| ethnic_groups = 
| population    = 
| blank_label   = Motto
| blank_data    = 
| blank_label1  = Anthem
| blank_data1   = ''San Lorenzan National Anthem''
| blank_label2  = Language(s)
| blank_data2   = San Lorenzan dialect of English
| blank_label3  = Currency
| blank_data3   = Corporal
}}

The Republic of San Lorenzo is a [[fictional country]] where much of the book's second half takes place.

San Lorenzo is a tiny, rocky island nation located in the [[Caribbean Sea]], positioned in the relative vicinity of [[Puerto Rico]]. San Lorenzo has only one city, its seaside capital of Bolivar. The country's form of government is a [[dictatorship]], under the rule of ailing president "Papa" Monzano, who is a staunch ally of the United States and a fierce opponent of [[communism]]. No [[legislature]] exists. The infrastructure of San Lorenzo is described as being dilapidated, consisting of worn buildings, dirt roads, an impoverished populace, and having only one working automobile [[taxicab|taxi]] in the entire country.

The language of San Lorenzo is a fictitious [[English-based creole language]] (for example "[[twinkle, twinkle, little star]]" is rendered "tsvent-kiul, tsvent-kiul, lett-pool store") that is referred to as "the San Lorenzan dialect". The San Lorenzan national anthem is based on the tune of ''[[Home on the Range (song)|Home on the Range]]''. Its flag consists of a [[U.S. Marine Corps]] corporal's [[chevron (insignia)|chevrons]] on a blue field (presumably the flag was updated, since in the 1920s Marine Corps rank insignia did not include crossed rifles). Its currency is named the ''corporal'', at a rate of two corporals for every [[United States dollar]]; both the flag and the monetary unit are named after U.S. Marine Corporal Earl McCabe, who deserted his company while stationed at [[Port-au-Prince]] during the American occupation in 1922, and in transit to Miami, was shipwrecked on San Lorenzo. McCabe, along with accomplice Lionel Boyd Johnson from [[Tobago]], together threw out the island's governing sugar company and, after a period of [[anarchy]], proclaimed a republic.

San Lorenzo also has its own native religion, Bokononism, a religion based on enjoying life through believing "foma" (harmless lies), and taking encouragement where you can. Bokononism, founded by McCabe's accomplice Boyd Johnson (pronounced "Bokonon" in San Lorenzan dialect), however, is outlawed – an idea Bokonon himself conceived, because forbidding the religion would only make it spread quicker. Bokononists are liable to be punished by being impaled on a hook, but Bokononism privately remains the dominant religion of nearly everyone on the island, including the leaders who outlaw it. Officially, however, San Lorenzo is a Christian nation.