Looking Forward by Kenneth Jr. (snow like ashes .txt) 📗

it would be available immediately. Such thought communication with others would, when perfected, offer an electronic realization of what used to be called “mental telepathy.”

Breakthroughs are being made in controlling the factors that permit cells to age. Aging is considered a disease by these men and women. They are confident that when it is fully understood, it can be eliminated. A “youth serum” that includes thyroxine and a mixture of hormones has doubled the years of vitality and has added an average of 89 per cent to the life span in a test on laboratory animals.

“Humility when facing the unknown is our dominant theme,” one of the older men says to Scott. “We are producing things that by the standards of previous centuries would have been regarded as fantastic miracles. Yet, no matter how successfully our experiment turns out, we always leave the door open for improving the results. We never believe we have the best way. We always have the feeling, ‘It seems to be working well now, but it hasn’t stood the test of centuries or millenia. Let’s go slowly and not close any doors behind us.’ ”

Brain Boosters

John F. Kennedy said in the past century, “The human mind is our fundamental resource. ...” Scott knows that the greatest achievement of these genetic laboratories during the past half-century was the implantation of a finger-sized organic computer in the growing embryonic brain. Everyone in the new society that is under fifty years old has this new development. Since Scott is only 45, he has the benefit of this breakthrough in designing human beings. By manipulation of the DNA and RNA molecules, a small auxiliary brain was developed that is nurtured in-vitro outside of the human body.

When the cortical cells of this supplementary brain complete their proliferation, they are electronically connected with Corcen. These brains are then imprinted with the basic attitudes and skills needed for orientation in the twenty-first century. Scott watches as the cybernated facilities program the small but potent brain boosters. To the three R’s of previous times—reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic—an additional seven R’s, as outlined by Dr. William A. McCall in the twentieth century, are included:

RESEARCH—The application of the scientific method as a way of life that enables man to test ideas to determine their reliability.

REASONING—The desire and ability to manipulate ideas in a creative and logical way. Adjusting constructively to new situations and making effective choices.

RELATIONSHIPS—Attitudes and skills that enable a person to interact and communicate with others in ways that bring maximum mutual satisfactions.

REPORTING—The use of all senses in ways that produce the richest and most accurate input to the brain and output to others.

RECREATION—The attitudes and skills which permit the use of one’s time to achieve a multi-dimensional life.

REVITALIZATION—Diet, health, and safety skills that add years to life, and life to years.

RESPONSIBILITY—The feeling of playing an important part on the human team in the game of life. The ability to find satisfaction in assisting and participating—but always within the limits one can give without resentment.

As suggested by McCall, each of these R’s is two-phased—an attitude phase and a skill phase. It is not enough that the young be provided with the skills of reasoning. It is equally important that they find pleasure in reasoning. It is not enough that the young know how to read. They need to enjoy reading.

Scott often uses his supplemental brain as a simple computer. He can multiply, divide, add or subtract any six digit number in a period of ten seconds. A complete vocabulary and understanding of the grammatical structure of the universal language is also imprinted.

In addition to being provided with an array of the basic tools and skills needed for orientation, this supplementary brain is also imprinted with information equivalent to a Ph.D. level in twelve different areas of learning. These areas are selected at random by Corcen in such a way that few individuals have the same pattern of intellectual development. Corcen also selects one area of learning and imprints this supplementary brain with every bit of information in this area that has been accumulated in the extensive memory banks.

For instance, if a supplementary brain is chosen to receive “complete” information in the field of anthropology, it is imprinted with a word-by-word reproduction of every worthwhile article ever published in that field that has been recorded in the memory banks of Corcen. It is imprinted with every book, every recorded lecture by eminent people in the field of anthropology, extensive simulated field experience, plus a briefing of all work now in progress. This is an internal treasure of knowledge that the individual can never live long enough to exhaust completely. But it will always be there in his brain, available for use to the extent that the individual can use it.

After these supplementary brains are matured and fully imprinted with this enormous assortment of attitudes and skills and their subordinate informations, they are attached to a growing embryo at a time of rapid proliferation of the ectoderm. When the ectoderm begins this stage, the supplementary brain is rapidly absorbed and integrated into the human nervous system. Since this implantation cannot be performed satisfactorily in an embryo inside the body of a woman, babies are grown from DNA engineered germ plasm in the cybernated “uterine” containers.

The sperm and egg cell used by the human race in the long evolutionary past are no longer needed. Reproductive cells are produced in the laboratory that are designed to develop into vastly improved versions of Homo sapiens. These cells are engineered by Corcen and can be programmed to develop into male or female embryos. At the age of approximately nine months, the developed infant is removed to continue its growth in the cybernated nurseries.

A woman of the twenty-first century does not want an infant to emerge from her vagina any more than a man in previous times would have desired a baby to grow in his body. Just as no man or woman in the twentieth century would knowingly