Chapter Eleven
Evidently, the raw spirits had done Kneedler some good. His face was defiant again. He said, “How much do you know about brain stimulation, the augmentation of concentration and the increasing of mind capacity?”
“Precious little except personal experience the last couple of days. Start at the beginning, Kneedler,” Bert said.
Kneedler breathed deeply. “Very well. If there is ever a beginning, possibly the beginnings were back a few decades ago when the biological explosion really started.”
“Come again on that one,” Jim said.
Kneedler looked over at him. “The science writer, Gordon Taylor, called it the Biological Time Bomb, and it was. A dozen breakthroughs were made over a very short period. Have you heard of Cylert, developed by the Abbott Laboratories in Chicago? No? It was the trade name of magnesium pemoline. They tested it on amnesia patients and others suffering from senility. Memory was fantastically improved. But that was just the beginning and just one line of experimentation. Another line was with THC, the laboratory equivalent of cannabis sativa.”
“Pot,” Jim said.
“Yes, marijuana. But that was just one of the hallucinogens they worked with. Mescaline was another, and LSD, too. You’re probably not up on the subject, but the earliest advocates of the hallucinogens, as a means of expanding perception, such as Aldous Huxley, had a germ of reality in some of their crackpot beliefs. Obviously, it is, and always has been, possible to speed up your perception, brighten your wits, through the use of chemicals. Caffeine comes to mind, and nicotine, for that matter.”
He thought back for a moment, before going on. “There were other lines of investigation into the possibilities of increasing I.Q. At first they worked considerably with babies and children. Holger Hyden, a Swedish professor, was a pioneer. Influencing the child before it was ever born, he came up with one, Karl Ortel, who was answering the phone at the age of thirteen months and was speaking four languages at the age of three. Hyden’s super-children had an average vocabulary of two hundred words by eighteen months, as compared to six words for ordinary children. This meant their I.Q.s would be over the 140 level of genius and perhaps as high as 250. By the way, up until that time the highest I.Q. ever recorded was 205, attained by a California girl.”
“Kay,” Bert said impatiently. “As far back as several decades ago, they began making breakthroughs in bettering memory, increasing speed of perception and goosing along I.Q. So then…?”
“So then the curtain dropped.”
Jill, Jim and Bert all stared at him.
Kneedler said impatiently, “Can’t you see some of the implications?” He came to his feet and went over to the desk. He sat down before the library booster, activated and spoke into it.
He said, “This, for instance, was written some time ago by a Gerald Feinberg in his The Prometheus Project: ‘Suppose it were decided that children to be born in the future should be biologically modified so that their mental powers were greatly increased in such respects as much better memories, faster thought processes, ability to concentrate on a number of problems simultaneously, or any of the other mental abilities that men have wished for. It is likely that the intelligent children, once grown to maturity, would be somewhat impatient with a society designed for their more dull-witted ancestors and would set about changing it to fit their own needs… Such a confrontation between man and superman may be an extreme example of the consequences of biological engineering.’ ”
He called for another book and shortly began to read again.
“This comes from Professor Donald MacKay, of Keele University, in an article in Science Digest : The possibilities of misapplication of the results of brain science are already frightening to many people. Could it be, they ask, that here at last we face the ultimate Pandora’s Box, a secret whose uncovering would be the destruction of human society? Has brain research gone far enough, if not too far, already?’ ”
He returned to the couch, obviously gaining courage by the minute. He sat down again and looked at his audience defiantly. “Can’t you see? It is pure dynamite. Can you realize the changes that would take place in our society? Would we put up with the inept who now run the country? Who now run the economy? Would we put up with such anachronisms as the military, and a world divided into conflicting national states?”
Bert said suddenly, “If you’re a political economist, how come you’re so far up on this biological engineering subject?”
Kneedler all but glared at him. “Can’t you comprehend the ramifications so far as socio-economics are concerned? You grabbed onto the fact that I taught communism in one of my classes. How long do you think the government of the Soviet Complex would last if the average citizen had an I.Q. of 200?”
Jim grinned. “How long would our own government?”
The other turned to him and nodded. “Or any other in the world.”
Jill said, “But you and the others of your group. Where do you come in? What do you stand for?”
“An all-out investigation into all ramifications. This must be taken out from under wraps and released to all. We’re at the crossroads. It’s one of the most important crises that has ever touched the race and the details are in the hands of self-seeking bunglers.”
He got up from his seat again, went back to the library booster, and went through the routine of finding another quotation he wanted.
“Listen to this: ‘The ethical problems raised by genetics and neurophysiology, and by the social and mental sciences are at least as great as those arising from atomic energy and the H-Bomb, from space travel and ultrasonic flight, from telecommunications, computers and automation. There is no doubt in my mind that several of these developments are as epoch-making for mankind as any that have preceded them. They rank at least as high, if not higher, in importance than the discovery of the wheel.’ ” Kneedler looked at them. “That quotation comes from the British ethologist Dr. W. H. Thorpe of Cambridge University, one of the greatest authorities of his time on the subject.”
Bert said, “But what’s all this cloak and dagger stuff? This kidnapping of Jill? This going around armed, in a day when guns are taboo for the public? This hiding of the identity of your gang, and the rest of it?”
Kneedler looked at him indignantly. “Katz and his crew are out to get us. We’re the opposition. They’ve got to try to eliminate us.”
“But why?” Jill said, frowning. “What in the name of heavens is it that Katz wants?”
“He wants the knowledge for himself—and his group. And not for anyone else. They’re afraid to let it into the hands of anyone else. They’ve kept the developments suppressed for decades but you can’t keep human discoveries hidden indefinitely. And every year that goes by, still new discoveries are made. And always there is the lurking fear: suppose the Soviets or someone else hit upon the same information and released it to their people. What happens if, suddenly, their population or that of China begins averaging more than 200 in the way of I.Q. and also begins utilizing our new educational techniques so that in a matter of months they have educations that usually take twenty years to acquire?”
Bert shook his head in confusion. “The more I hear about all this, the more of a razzle it seems.”
“That makes two of us,” Jim said.
Bert came to a decision. “Look,” he said, “you get along. We know where we can get in touch with you. Tomorrow I’ll see Katz and check this out.”
Jim gestured at the assistant professor with his head. “Suppose he goes to Security?”
Bert looked at him. “He can’t. He’s in on it. He was up on the fact that Jill was going to be kidnapped. He’s involved. Not as badly as we are, but involved.”