A Paradox in Retrograde

by Faherty, John

  Robert responded, "On what issue in particular doesthe board find difficult?" "One member is raising the issue that a condemned prisoner cannot adequately give consent especially when there are questions of documented mental illness involved."

  Robert’s face twisted angrily with emotion as he responded. "So let me get this straight. The state has deemed fit to execute a man who by any definition of the word is insane, but the hospital deems that he may not be sane enough to be afforded an opportunity to seek treatment."

  "The key word here is experimental treatment."

  "If the board needs evidence, we can supply that. He can use his own words. That will convince them."

  "If you think he's ready to handle such a thing then I will arrange it." The following day at Jamison's request an emergency meeting of the hospital board of governors was convened. It was hoped that any fears relating to the projects ethics could be assuaged. Gathered there were about the conference room table, a dozen members of the board including Jamison himself. Jamison introduced himself to those assembled there. Shortly thereafter, upon an adjacent holoscreen a graphical animation describing the procedure began to play. To which Jamison gladly played the role of narrator. Looking out on to his audience, from his vantage he could see that their interest in the details was quickly waning.

  They were there after all for only one purpose, todecide the fate of Hector Ananda. So as the presentation ended, Jamison then was pleased to make the next introduction. Before them on the holoscreen a live video feed now played showing Hector with Robert sitting side by side in an ill lit room. Hector still wore the chains of a prisoner though his new found cooperation had brought him to the table. Doctor Jamison beganthis portion of the meeting by introducing them to the board. "Members if I may I would like to bring your attention back to the view screen so I can introduce you to the subject of our study and our chief scientist on the project. Firstly this is our patient a Mr. Hector Ananda, and there seated we have Doctor Robert Amida." Each of them nodded in turn. "Please Doctor Amida would you like to address the board?"

  "Yes thank you. I would like to start by thanking you all for being here this morning. I hope this presentation will help you to gain insight into what we are trying to accomplish here. Let me start by giving you all a primer on this technology and what we hope it can do now and in the future. Many of you may be familiar with my work in artificial intelligence. About a decade ago we succeeded in creating the very first quantum mind analogues. Though initially limited in scope we have since not only revolutionized the capabilities of artificial intelligence, we have also learned much of what we call the seat of mind. At first our findings surprised us then there came that eureka moment. What we discovered was that the seat of human consciousness existed not only within the boney confines of the brain, but also within the vast fields of energy that exist all around us. I know what some of you may be thinking, that this is some kind of spooky new age mumbo jumbo. Nothing could be farther from the truth. What we have found is solid factual evidence that suggests that on the most basic existential level that our patterns of thought are mirrored multi dimensionally. This means our consciousness is dependent upon its entangled counterparts spread throughout a quantum spectrum. For the very first time our models have begun to map the patterns of these entanglements. As exciting as these findings have been, our experiments have been very limited. Though to this point we have gleaned enormous amounts of data, we have barely begun to scratch the surface.That's where Hector comes in. Our goal with Hector is twofold.Though we hope to examine this technologies full potential wealso want to establish a yardstick through which we discover where in space and time the coronel of the mind exists. The secondgoal with Hector is to discover what benefits could be gleaned from such data toward the ultimate goal of curing mental illnesses. We hope that by examining and mapping Hectors mind patterns we may one day revolutionize the current state of treatment and thus raise the standard of care to new heights."

  One of the board members, Doctor Richard Hendrix until now had politely bided his time listening for an appropriate break in the conversation. Sensing now his opportunity he spoke to raise a question. "Doctor Amida, it is doctor, is it not?"

  Sensing the tone of arrogant judgment in his voice he responded, "I am a doctor of philosophy, not in medicine." "Then neither are you a psychiatrist, am I correct?" "That is correct."

  "With all due respect Doctor Amida, how do you then presume to lecture us on a standard of care?" "I would answer that question, with a question. I assume you all are learned men. You then must be familiar with current standard model of the universe. Do you recall that there was a time when the field of Cosmology was a highly fractious one? For those of you who do not, for where there now is one there were once were two competing fields. One was Astronomy and the other was Quantum physics. Members within each field with good reason felt that their dogma was somehow correct. That's because they both were correct. These two fields worked parallel to each other for centuries until great discoveries reconciled their differences. It is now known and commonly accepted that there is only one set of laws for everything. The result of this synthesis of thought was to create a far richer and complex vision of the state of the universe. That is why I have come before you today to help you to see that we may in fact be on the cusp of a similar synthesis. The question then is, are you prepared to open your minds to new possibilities?"

  Doctor Hendrix again spoke, "You forget Doctor Amida that this here is not a scientific witch hunt, but rather an ethics board. Our primary concern is not only for the wellbeing of this patient but for future patients as well. However for the sake of argument let us for the moment focus on the needs of this patient. The question that we are asking is, does the risk of harm to your patient, out way the potential benefit to him? If you can answer that adequately we may be more likely to make a favorable decision."

  "I think it does. I know you are all aware of what lies ahead for Hector Ananda. In his case it would seem that he is doomed to die for a crime, that by the standards of your profession that he could not be responsible for. If only we were able to cure him we may prove conclusively that this patient is redeemable. We could be leading the way to a place where we may eliminate this kind of evil from our society for good."

  "Doctor how well informed is your patient about the procedures he is about to endure? I would like to hear it from the patient himself, in his own words. Can he speak?"

  "Why yes he can. Hector would you like to say a few words on your own behalf?" Though Hector was still in chains he proudly stood up and stared into the view screen before him. "Yes I do have some things I would like to say to you. Firstly I would ask a question to you. Is the reason for your hesitation in this matter due to some abstract notion between that of right and wrong? If it is, I cannot defend it, for I have done a good deal of soul searching.As I am here before you now, there are only several short monthsbefore I am scheduled to be executed under the law. So my concerns as you may understand are of a more practical nature. The way that I see it is that when my sentence is carried out, all your questions regarding my rights as a human being will have been rendered null and void. I may have now for the first time a meansthrough which I can escape from the maze that I find myself in. Before I die I should like to use every opportunity to bring a sense of clarity to what has brought me to this position. By your own admissions your treatments have not swayed me from my socalled delusions. I still stand by what statements I have made since being brought here against my will. To my knowledge I have been here for no more than several weeks. To your records as I understand them, I have been entrusted to this facility for well over two years. If what I say is true, then perhaps your procedures will bring me back to where I belong. However if these things are false there is a good chance that I should be brought fully into this world with a greater understanding of the crimes you say I am guilty of. And if as you fear it does not work at all, or if I am somehow injured in the process,
what will it mater, for I am a condemned man."

  For a moment there was silence as they drank in what had been told to them. Doctor Hendrix again spoke, breaking the silence. "Mr. Ananda, these are powerful words you have left us much to think about. I am personally inclined to accept that you do whole heartedly believe these things that you say. However it is our responsibility as members of this board to adjudicate your case to the strictest ethical standards. Having said this, we should like a day or two to review your case files before we render a decision. Doctor Amida you will be made aware of our decision through Doctor Jamison as soon as it has been determined. This ethics board has concluded this phase of the process. Until then, have a good day gentlemen." The view screen then went blank. Those there assembled rose quietly from their seats and left the room. Dr. Hendrix being the last to leave the room turnedto Jamison and gave him a nod and a wink.

  In the intervening weeks their time at the lab wasfilled with preparations. Now nearly two months later in thesevery rooms in which Hector had first met Robert Amida, they againmet. Today in comparison, Hector’s perception of this man and his world now appeared wholly different. There were after all some reasons to feel optimistic. He had bought into the notion that the potential to regain the life he had known and perhaps to findanswers to those nagging holes in his memory was real. He would have to be a believer for what would be done to him to gain this, even by twentieth century standards would have seemed barbaric. The tests themselves would naturally require the subject to be conscious, but just so. This though potentially stressful, paled in comparison to the hours of torturous preparation work that lay ahead. Hector therefore for the sake of science and his freedom would dutifully endure many a painful and degrading experiment. It was a mercy then that he did so in a kind of twilight sleep. The team of medical doctors that worked on the project had assured Robert that though Hector would be able to feel some of the pain he would retain no memory of it. This it was believed would spare him from the painful trauma that would arise from remembering. Though Hector was a criminal in the eyes of the law and therefore possessing no rights, Robert refused to scar him for the sake of a cure.

  Despite the dull ache in his head Hector was in good spirits. He was there in the preparation room ready for what was to come. He had made it so far, without a hitch. He took little notice to the fact that, for the first time in a long time his hands were unburdened by mechanical restraints. It however made little matter for he was restrained now by a suite of administered drugs that were slowly pushing their way through his system. The walls, floors and ceilings seemed to collapse into an off white one dimensional plane. The silent spaces between his heart beats grew longer and deeper. In this state it was necessary that he lay perfectly still. Far above him the echoes of the med techs voices trailed off to a whisper.

  Though Hector now was at the center of a flurry ofactivity, having been made virtually deaf, dumb and blind to hissenses he would likely remember very little of it. Existing in the pharmaceutical equivalent to sensory deprivation chamber, his mind straddled between the twin realms of consciousness. Teams of surgeons then by using the most delicate tools yetinvented, had begun to strategically graft a sophisticated set of sensory implants in direct contact with his brain. There at its most basic molecular level its actions for the first time would be quantified. After days of this intricate micro surgery he showed no measurable signs of distress. Given the clean bill of health by his doctors, the go ahead was given for the next stage. While the last checks on the experiment chamber were being completed he was given a day to further stabilize.

  On the day of the first experiment Hector lay in a hospital bed within a special room just outside of the experiment chamber. A team of specially trained surgeons and technicians now began the task of calibrating the array of direct internal contact sensors that now studded his head like a pin cushion. Through this web of sensors and processors the intricately woven response signals produced there in real time would be read, streamed and interpreted. These responses to stimuli would then be recorded in their native format, analyzed and encoded directly by an array of sensors within the chamber specifically engineered for this purpose. To ensure a clean read, one by one the sensors were checked and calibrated. After this lengthy verification procedure had been completed his doctors then indicated that his implants were operating at optimal performance. A pair of gowned med techs carefully transferred him from his bed in the preparation room onto a gurney. From there it was a short trip into the experiment chamber.

  The chamber itself was a master work of technology. From without, it appeared to be merely a metallic sphere. However there were held within three levels of concentric synchronized containment; each one more being more sophisticated than the next. At its heart was a quantum field generator. It appearing not unlike a bronze sarcophagus was designed to hold Hector safe. Its purpose beyond shielding his body from the potentially dangerous pulsating fields and temporal waves held there within, but also to create the proper conditions in which to detect the extra dimensional displacement of an entangled state. For proper mapping of a third theoretical quantum, both sets of arrays must be in a state of perfect synchronization. To achieve the appropriate harmonics, just beyond the outer chamber walls around the quantum field generator, row after row of concentrically aligned electromagnetic field generators were clustered. There these generators created a magnetic field capable of maintaining the proper stability. Beyond this stood a blast rated confinement bubble. Capable of withstanding enormous internal as well as external forces, it was the last barrier to the outside world if something were to go wrong. Straddling atop all of this stood a circular observation platform upon which sat the shielded control room. There wall size monitors displayed synthesized reams of preliminary data streaming at a rate of many thousands of petaflops per second.

  Robert was there to oversee it all unfold. The space around him seemed to seethe with energy as the sound of the processors filled the air. Powering within their matrices was the potential computational equivalent to one million artificial neural nodes of the previous generation. This was then by far the most powerful computer ever constructed. To power this massive machine it was necessary to arrange that the required energy would be temporarily shunted from multiple sources. This was made possible only because of the level of low keyed excitement that it generated among highly placed technocrats. By all accounts it was an important project, and many eyes were upon them. This attention was for the most part warranted for in and of itself, it was a truly unprecedented achievement. It however grew pale in comparison to what those most closely involved hoped would come next. The fact that this experiment was on the cutting edge of science could only add to this sense of excitement. As far as they were aware, they would be the first to attempt such a feat.

  Through a meter wide lens that separated the control room from the chamber Robert observed the goings on below. There within a pristine clean room Hector floated ghostlike. Behind a set of hermetically sealed Mylar curtains he laid suspended from a custom stainless built steel armature. Slowly the armaturewas being lowered inch by inch into a specially shielded capsule. Made from a translucent aluminum alloy and lined with leaded crystal glass it was designed to filter out any extraneous signals that may hamper the experiment. As he watched he imagined that here at its basic level one could not clearly designate a place where the arts of medicine had ended or where those of technology had begun. With the capsule having been placed into position the armature folded and receded back into the structure above. The capsule was then carefully fastened into the sarcophagus like generator chamber. The technicians after completing their duties locked down the generator access port and exited the chamber. Robert watched on the monitor as the last one out closed the door behind him and screwed the locking mechanism down tight. To sooth his nerves he took several more minutes to run some final diagnostic tests on sensors. He took a deep breath and examined the room around him as if drinking in its ambian
ce for future reference. He muttered a few words to himself before initiating the chamber field generators. "Nothing will be as it was, for with this one experiment we will usher in a new era."

  At first the observations on the monitor showed that oscillations caused by the wave generators seemed to cause some undue turbulence within the static field. Once its rotation rate had reached optimal levels, this turbulence was replaced by a smooth fluidic toroidal form. Robert then began making the methodical adjustments required to make these fields perfectly attuned to one another. He hit a switch that then prompted the release of a subtle neurotoxin into Hectors blood stream. In response, almost immediately his body began to jerk and his closed eyesrolled rapidly in their sockets. Downward his consciousness drifted until at long last he found a dark and shadowy land populated bythe ghosts of his past and the specters of the future. Calmly he walked among them unfettered by the stress of unending war that for so long had plagued him. There suspended at the calm eye of this magnetic storm Hectors mind rambled through a fit of restless daydreams. Here in this place, there were enough memories to fill a hundred lifetimes and yet space to grow and explore. He experienced there a peace he had not known since his long ago youth. His mind was beginning to be remotely conscious of the first of glimmers of its entangled selves existing beyond the void. In that place under the most exquisitely tuned conditions a tiny tear between these membranes that held separate the realms of probability was torn. For one brilliant instant all of Hectors splintered lives were made evident to him in one crystallized singularity of thought.

  Robert watched through the observation portal as an azure glow built up within the inner chamber. Its light now shined so intensely as to be painful to his eyes. Though it seemed to sear his eyes he was so enamored by its beauty that he dare not look away. Soon the ball of light began to expand within the chamber. It took no more than a mere second for the wave of expanding light to break free beyond the girdling bonds of the electromagnetic field. Robert watched as Hector's body vanished from within the chamber. In an instant a pulse of expanding energy passed through Roberts's body and touched his mind. It had touched and recognized him. Only now did he realize the incredible danger that faced him. A second later, tendrils of energy reached up from the core through the portal. In a bright flash he too was consumed.