| | Futuristic Chaos …
(I do not apologize for the following - because I promised that I would do this - but I still feel a little guilty for it)
First, I will give a very brief version of a futuristically-optimistic potentiality (a best-case scenario of the “genomes have underlying rights” theme advocated by Mr. Stolyarov).
Then I will give a much more terrifying version of the story.
Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I mean no disrespect to the man known as Mr. Stolyarov (I actually find him to be quite insightful and genuine). However, this particular IDEA of his is something that I plan to do “justice” to here, with a few ideas of my own (“justice”: to treat equals equally, and unequals unequally).
The Best-Case Scenario:
It is the year 2050 and Stolyarovian University is celebrating their Nobel Prize for discovering (distinguishable from “inventing”, “interpreting”, or “emoting”) that an “embedded” genome is a futuristically certain human being. “Stolyarovian U”, as it is often called by insiders, is also celebrating the newly-passed law, the Parenthood Act, that their legal department (working with their Western Philosophy department) had drafted. It passed in Congress unanimously and without a single request for revision or amendment.
Mr. Stolyarov himself, the founder of this prestigious university, has 3 BUBs (back-up bodies) and 3 CVCs (copies of volitional consciousness) lined up in the university’s Genetics & Cell Biology lab in the unfortunate case that his present body is destroyed or “wears out”. His genome has a “right to life” now (a clause in the new law passed), so it would be a crime to prevent him from “copying” himself when his original body “wears out”.
Televised commercials advertising the incorporation of the Stolyarovian Continuum Institute for the High-Minded finish with catchy phrases such as “Have you hugged your genome today?”, “Everyone has a genome deep down inside, just waiting to be set free in the world to express itself!”, “Genomes are people, too!”, and “It is a certainty that some potentialities are actually actualities in a certain futuristic sense, so support “SCI for the High-Minded” – and don’t let your actual future leave you potentially uncertain!”.
Everyone recognizes the new law, society prepares for it (with various support programs), and the “intelligent” start to breed at an equal pace with the “unintelligent” for the first time in human history, giving birth to the concept of “Indirect Eugenics”, another milestone attributed to Mr. Stolyarov.
One Worst-Case Scenario (of several in my imagination):
It is the year 2050 and the Parenthood Act has the country of Altruia in a quiet rage. The lack of empirically verifiable certainty – indeed, the fundamental UNCERTAINTY – of the Law of Pregnancy has intellectuals arguing that the Parenthood Act may be forcing hundreds of women to “prepare” for their pregnancies for every one of them that actually stays pregnant (hundreds of lives affected for each actual child born). They also argue that forcing pregnancies against the judgment and timing of parents in the context of their lives will actually reduce human happiness, achievement & productivity, and even the “general welfare” by taking away from those children already born or from those “yet to be conceived” when the timing is better for the parents in the context of their life plan and available abilities & resources).
Sensing that the people of Altruia, the Altruists, may not entirely accept the Act, the State creates an agency of Family Obligation & Recidivism-Controls Enforcement (agency of F.O.R.C.E.). All pregnancies are to be registered ASAP. And an official record of family planning desires is kept at the State and with your employer. The people are told that they should not attempt to dissuade dissenters by reasoning with them, and that the proper way to deal with these criminals is not by the use of reason, but by the use of F.O.R.C.E. (by quietly turning in your dissenting neighbor to the agency).
Mrs. I.M. Sovereign has been showing up to work with a radiant glow. Her co-workers, who fearfully follow the “Act” (or at least feign that they do), feel contempt for her and imagine that she must be breaking the rules by abstaining from abstinence (she marked the “wishful pregnancy/unprotected sex” box on the State/Employer record - which every woman has to keep updated at their place of employment).
As she arrives at her desk this morning, she tries to hide the fact that she senses the glares of her co-workers and she tries to concentrate on the work that she has to complete by today’s deadline. She starts to feel nauseous and looks around to see if anyone is noticing. In a quiet, hurried fashion she makes her way to the bathroom, nervously trying to see if people are looking at her without shifting her eyes to the side or turning her head. She keeps her head down to try to limit unwanted attention.
As she enters the bathroom, she realizes what this might mean: morning sickness from a pregnancy. Unbeknownst to her, a co-worker has already video-phoned F.O.R.C.E. with her work I.D. photo and the confidential-only direct-link to her Family Planning File in the Employer’s Database. An agent F.O.R.C.E. has just responded and he is entering the special system of travel for agents, the State’s Electro-Magnetubes. The State’s Electro-Magnetubes are a closed system of ultra-high-speed, luge-type, non-contact, magnetic travel tubes that allow for agents of F.O.R.C.E. to be carried anywhere in the city within seconds.
As Mrs. Sovereign exits the bathroom, she is accosted by the agent. He asks if she is feeling sick this morning and she quivers and admits that she doesn’t feel entirely okay this morning, as she looks around at all the others who are watching her with a piercing, menacing gaze. The agent has her stand still as he waves a wand in front of her abdomen (he is scanning her with a CellCheck stick which is used to find unusually high numbers of cells in any area of the body – it cannot differentiate the type of cells however, only the number of cells).
As the stick goes off with a red light and a beeping sound, he warns her of the consequences of an unregistered pregnancy. He says to her as he puts the magnetic cuffs on her and leads her out: “You had better hope that this is endometrial cancer, Lady, because if it’s an unregistered pregnancy, then you are in a world of trouble”.
Ed
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