- #1
Khatti
- 281
- 35
Okay here is the scenario:
A character, we'll call him Joe, is sitting in a college somewhere in America today and studying two disciplines; neurology and virology. He is going to become accomplished in both in the next ten years. What he is studying is the rabies virus. He is trying to figure out a form of gene therapy where he uses specially bred viruses to implant the new genetic material in human beings. He is interested in the rabies virus because he needs an agent to destroy parts of the nervous system and brain so that the new genetic material can be deposited in both.
Joe goes on to become the darling of the scientific and medical communities. Because of his needs Joe discovers a method to treat rabies in the final stages of the disease. From there he goes on to produce successful treatments for Alzheimer and Parkinson's disease. These accomplishments grant Joe accolades and frankly cash, but that is not what really interests Joe.
You have to understand Joe's childhood and politics. Joe is the product of two college professors who teach in the upper Midwest, but whose spiritual home is Berkeley. Joe grows up in a household of radical-left politics; virtually every weekend is spent in some sort of demonstration. Young Joe quickly figures out that this is what his parents live for. Teaching pays the bills. Joe is never really sure how important he is to his parents; he tries everything he can to ingratiate himself to them. In high school he is given Doris Lessing's The Good Terrorist to read. It hits for too close to home. He comes to view his parents as buffoons. It energizes him to do better. He's spent his whole life on campuses and knows he has the tools at hand to help him discover what he's good at, that turns out to be biology.
Which brings us to Joe's master plan. Joe has watched his parents spend their whole lives trying to change peoples' minds through rhetoric; Joe wants to do the same thing using bio-chemistry. He develops a technique for removing and replacing memories and altering the personalities of his patients to anything Joe wants. I don't have all the hows worked out in my head yet--and this post is already too long.
Too sum up, the political situation becomes such that Joe is authorized to treat fellow citizens who are deemed a threat to society. He starts with potential school shooters and moves on to Tea Party members. Shooters and Tea Partists are not given a choice in the matter.
Would this sort of permanent brain-washing really work? I have no idea, as a writer I'm for more interested in whether we have the will than whether we have the technology.
What I'm interested is what stumbling blocks Joe would face. Where I can see him getting tripped up is in the early days when his research is peer reviewed. I would assume that peer review is the bane of mad scientists everywhere. I don't have the in-your-bones feel for college life that many of you have, do you have any thoughts on what problems Joe would face?
A character, we'll call him Joe, is sitting in a college somewhere in America today and studying two disciplines; neurology and virology. He is going to become accomplished in both in the next ten years. What he is studying is the rabies virus. He is trying to figure out a form of gene therapy where he uses specially bred viruses to implant the new genetic material in human beings. He is interested in the rabies virus because he needs an agent to destroy parts of the nervous system and brain so that the new genetic material can be deposited in both.
Joe goes on to become the darling of the scientific and medical communities. Because of his needs Joe discovers a method to treat rabies in the final stages of the disease. From there he goes on to produce successful treatments for Alzheimer and Parkinson's disease. These accomplishments grant Joe accolades and frankly cash, but that is not what really interests Joe.
You have to understand Joe's childhood and politics. Joe is the product of two college professors who teach in the upper Midwest, but whose spiritual home is Berkeley. Joe grows up in a household of radical-left politics; virtually every weekend is spent in some sort of demonstration. Young Joe quickly figures out that this is what his parents live for. Teaching pays the bills. Joe is never really sure how important he is to his parents; he tries everything he can to ingratiate himself to them. In high school he is given Doris Lessing's The Good Terrorist to read. It hits for too close to home. He comes to view his parents as buffoons. It energizes him to do better. He's spent his whole life on campuses and knows he has the tools at hand to help him discover what he's good at, that turns out to be biology.
Which brings us to Joe's master plan. Joe has watched his parents spend their whole lives trying to change peoples' minds through rhetoric; Joe wants to do the same thing using bio-chemistry. He develops a technique for removing and replacing memories and altering the personalities of his patients to anything Joe wants. I don't have all the hows worked out in my head yet--and this post is already too long.
Too sum up, the political situation becomes such that Joe is authorized to treat fellow citizens who are deemed a threat to society. He starts with potential school shooters and moves on to Tea Party members. Shooters and Tea Partists are not given a choice in the matter.
Would this sort of permanent brain-washing really work? I have no idea, as a writer I'm for more interested in whether we have the will than whether we have the technology.
What I'm interested is what stumbling blocks Joe would face. Where I can see him getting tripped up is in the early days when his research is peer reviewed. I would assume that peer review is the bane of mad scientists everywhere. I don't have the in-your-bones feel for college life that many of you have, do you have any thoughts on what problems Joe would face?