“Like I said, my name is Dr. Eric Chandler. Also on the stage with me are—” he said, turning back to his colleagues behind him. “—Dr. Alicia Woodley. She teaches Anthropology at Georgia Tech University.” She was a pretty African-American woman in her mid-forties. She stood and waved to the crowd then retook her seat.
“Next to her is Dr. Eli Greenstein. He is an emeritus professor of economics from Columbia.” Dr. Greenstein was a tall, distinguished looking man in his seventies. He wore a three-piece suit and looked to Patton to be the quintessential college professor. He bowed slightly and smiled and then retook his seat.
“Next to Dr. Greenstein there is Dr. Bryan Ester. He teaches political science close to here, down at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.” Dr. Ester was the youngest person on stage. He had a round, friendly face and was dressed much more casually than the rest of his colleagues. He waved and smiled shyly and quickly took his seat again.
“Here now, is Doctor Emily Nguyen-Baker. She is a professor of psychology from Stanford.” Dr. Baker was a petite, pretty middle-aged woman, who, to Patton, appeared to be part Asian. She bounced from her seat and waved enthusiastically at the crowd.
“And the last of our scientists is Doctor Tyrelle Robinson. He teaches geography at the University of Arizona.” Dr. Robinson was a tall African American man with salt and pepper hair and beard. He sported thick glasses and seemed to be bored by the proceedings, neither waving nor bowing.
“Now,” Dr. Chandler said, returning to the agenda, “The last person on the stage is Michael Varner. He is the CEO of Insight Resource, a consulting firm based out of Los Angeles, California. His company was hired by the group that is funding this experiment. Dr. Varner recruited myself and my colleagues here on this stage. I would now like to turn over the microphone to Mike, who may have answers to whatever questions you may have. Mike?”
Dr. Varner stood and shook Dr. Chandler’s hand brusquely and then stepped the lectern. He adjusted the microphone and waited for the polite but subdued applause to dissipate.
Once the crowd quieted down, Dr. Varner began, saying, “first of all, I’d like to thank Dr. Chandler.” He turned and nodded cordially to the master of ceremonies.
Facing the crowd again, Dr. Varner said, “my name is Mike Varner and like Dr. Chandler said I’m the CEO of Insight Resource out of Los Angeles. I’m here to answer any question that you might have at this time.
“If you’re at home via the intranet, you can click the link that says question slash comment and you can involve yourself in this discussion. If you’re here in the crowd you will find that in between every few seats there is a microphone. To get into the queue, push the green button beside the microphone. When it blinks, that means you are next. When the button lights up and stays solid you know that is your turn. A spotlight above me will shine down on you so I can see where you are. Also, you’ll appear here split screen alongside me on the large screen behind me.
“So,” he said, clasping his hands together casually, “what questions do you have?”
There was a long pause while the queue filled up. Finally, a spotlight flashed through the darkening night and moved up and to the speaker’s left. An African-American man appeared on the screen.
“Yes sir. Oh wait, I’m sorry,” Dr. Varner said. “Before you begin, let’s try to keep questions and comments brief so we can involve more people. All of these questions, answers, comments and responses will be posted on the home website for you all to revisit when needed. Furthermore, all unanswered questions will be answered by our technicians in Los Angeles. You will be able to see those on our website in the coming days. Okay sorry about that interruption. Sir?” he said, gesturing towards the first questioner.
“Hi, my name is Randall Johnson. I was a police officer in Auburn, Alabama and I was wondering… I know there are police and fire services, but will there be a government at some point?”
“I don’t know, will there?” Dr. Varner asked. There was scattered laughter, but he hadn’t meant it as a joke.
After a pause he said, “Sorry sir, but what I say is true. We set up this experiment, we chose the people, and we built the infrastructure. We built your businesses and transported in the cars and everything, but this experiment, and everything that happens here is up to you. Will you set up a government? That is totally up to you as a new community. The purpose of this experiment is to put you all on equal footing financially and see what happens. After that, though, it’s out of our hands and in yours.”
The lights moved again, this time landing on a man all the way across the arena from Patton and Jennifer. A middle-aged man stood and asked, “you say that it is up to us. Do you mean that everything is up to us? Is that safe? Is this a good idea?”
Dr. Varner strode forward towards the front of the stage, his chin in his hand.
“I didn’t mean to sound coy with my last answer. All of us have lived in a country where the laws are well established and where the government is well established. Of course it’s our assumption that some form of government would and should be formed, but we did not want to dictate that to you. I wouldn’t want a government, that we formed, influence how things go in the experiment. Does that answer your question?” The questioner appeared on the big screen again. He nodded and took his seat.
Dr. Chandler, the man who had introduced all of the scientists, stepped up to the lectern and said, “I would just like to interject here. Everything that we’ve done has been thoroughly examined by dozens of social scientists from all disciplines. Believe me, folks, we wouldn’t do anything without lots of careful consideration. To do otherwise would be very irresponsible of us.”
Dr. Varner nodded and said, “I agree. This has been a very thorough process. Very carefully thought out at every phase. Next question?”
The meeting went on and it began to amaze Patton just how dumb some people were. Question after question, people asked if the town would have this or that and the man on stage would stand there with the same expression, the same posture, and answer “I don’t know, will you?”
After another hour of this, Dr. Varner declared that he would be taking no more questions in that setting but any further questions, as announced before, would be answered by email and posted on microcosm.org. Patton and Jennifer left well before this point, though, not wanting to get caught in what was going to be a huge traffic jam. They were in Patton’s truck, driving through the dark, quiet streets. Jennifer’s neighborhood reminded Patton of the cookie-cutter subdivision he and his wife had moved into after he’d gotten his first real job. He turned into her driveway and parked.
Despite spending so much time with Jennifer, Patton was feeling butterflies. He exhaled deeply and his cold fingers began to shake. She could tell he was nervous, but she worked to keep her composure, not wanting to embarrass him.
After an awkward moment she asked him, “What’s wrong?”
Her voice caught him off-guard and he turned his eyes to meet hers. Not wanting to betray his nervousness, he shrugged and shook his head as if to say “nothing.” But he was a terrible liar. She reached over and grabbed his hands. The sudden intimacy forced him to look at her again.
“Patton, what’s wrong?”
He closed his eyes and exhaled again. Suddenly he smiled and then chuckled.