by Jim Stark
Winnie watched as Annette faded into private reflection. Here was the first victim of the LieDeck—if you didn't count Victor's old friend George Cluff, allegedly murdered by the CIA over the early LieDeck model, and if you didn't count Victor himself, for the toll taken by those years of driving taxi ... and hiding out. Annette was arguably the first living victim of the official LieDeck Revolution, and Winnie felt very strongly that she should, and could, help her get back on track.
"You must be freaking angry at the guys that shot you,” she ventured.
Annette's face turned pale. “Well, I ... I ... don't want to kill them or anything like that,” she said flippantly.
"Beep,” said Winnie.
"Beep?” repeated Annette. “You beeped me?"
"Yeah ... beep,” said Winnie again. “Do you want me to turn on my LieDeck so we can see for sure?"
Annette smiled. “No,” she admitted, “I ... do want to kill those sons o’ bitches. My shrink says it's normal for me to feel that way, but I'm not sure I want to keep feeling that way for the rest of my life. They did tell me that they caught the guys, but when I asked who did it, they wouldn't tell me. I asked if the RCMP was actually involved, like that kid said on TV, but they wouldn't tell me that either. I was damn mad at first, and then I realized they were probably right. I'm not ready yet. I ... don't want to know."
* * *
"RCMP, Joly here."
"Commissioner, it's Hodgins, at Metro. We've got something here. We know how to find out what's on those Helliwell tapes. We've got to get this to the PM right away."
"Holy shit! How did you manage to ... never mind, I probably don't want to know, right? I'll conference call the three of us. Give me a minute. And don't hang up. And for sure don't tell the PM how you found out if he shouldn't know."
* * *
"Hey, I told you about Victor,” said Winnie. “So what's the inside story on Steve?"
"Not too much to tell,” said Annette teasingly. “He has exquisite taste in women, I must say."
"Not as good as Victor,” smiled Winnie.
"The other day ... Saturday ... yeah ... God, I seem to lose track of time sometimes. Today's Monday, right?"
"Yeah."
"Anyway, the other day I got Steve to lie on the bed with me. It was the first time we ever snuggled. I haven't felt that nice for an awful long time, but then I put his hand on my breast and he ... almost ... lost it,” giggled Annette. Winnie was trying not to crack up completely. “I shouldn't laugh,” Annette continued. “It was really sweet, actually, but then the damn nurse walked in on us."
"You're kidding,” said Winnie, suppressing a smile.
"Some dumb business with Cam,” said Annette. “I asked him on Sunday what it was about, but he wouldn't tell me."
* * *
"Dr. Secord, this is Nick Godfrey here. We've got a serious crisis to manage, and my RCMP commissioner tells me you've got a tape that we want, need. So ... talk to me."
"This is quite an honor, Prime Minister. If I may give you some of the background on the—"
"Cut to the chase, Dr. Secord,” Godfrey said abruptly.
"Well,” said Secord, “it seems that the idea behind the LieDeck has little to do with detecting lies or catching criminals. Mr. Helliwell had a twelve-year jump on the rest of us, and it seems he's figured out a theory as to the nature of man—a new theory. The ... technique that he used is sound, and I've been able to confirm most of the basic tenets he advances, just in the last hour. It's not very complicated, but it is dynamite, academically ... and in practical terms too. The problem is, I gave my word to Ms. Jopps that I would not reveal any of this for a full day, so that she could—"
"Dr. Secord, I can have you in custody in thirty seconds, and I'll do that if you force me to,” said the PM. “I need the bottom line, and I need it NOW!"
"I+T=C!” said Secord tersely, and without hesitation.
"I'm ... sorry, Doctor,” said a chastened Nick Godfrey after a few seconds of silence. “I didn't ... mean to shout at you. Yes, I did mean to. Sorry ... again. Now, if you could please be a little less succinct. What the fuck does that mean: I+T=C?"
"Instinct plus technology equals chaos,” explained Secord. “It's ... it seems to be the psychological and political equivalent of—uh—of Einstein's E=mc2."
"Translation?"
"We wouldn't give nukes to apes, sir, because the first time they got really ticked off, they'd blow up the world. Problem is, we used to be apes. Real problem is, we still are. It's still ... in us ... apeness, if you will."
"Explain."
Dr. Secord bit his upper lip ... and reminded himself that he was dealing with an academic commoner. “We used to have one boss, internally,” he began carefully. “That was the instinct, the same internal boss as all the other animals. It basically directed our behaviors ... according to its own preprogrammed perception of our survival needs. And it worked its magic through the emotions—made us eat by way of pain, hunger—and it consolidated adaptive behaviors, reinforced them, with pleasurable feelings—taste, a full stomach, that sort of thing—punishments and rewards, carrots and sticks, all from the inside. It seems that by whatever means, rationality was added on top of that gestalt, onto an already complete, surviving organism. So ... now ... each one of us has two bosses inside."
There was a pause on the PMO end of the phone as Nick scratched his nose and felt the need to urinate. “Try again,” he said.
"Human One, as Mr. Helliwell calls it, had only one boss, instinct, same as any other mammal. Whatever brainpower we had was at the service of the instinct. The instinct to survive told us what to do, and the brain served to figure out how to do it. Human Two, that's what Helliwell calls us, Homo sapiens, we have two internal bosses, the survival instinct, which remains unchanged, and a brain that can also tell us what to do. These two—uh—entities, I guess I'd say, instinct and rationality, they often work in tandem, but at times they come into conflict with each other, try to steer us in two directions at once. Sometimes the instinct wins, sometimes rationality wins, and other times it's a saw-off. They can compromise ... or they can even take turns winning or exercising control."
"So instinct is bad and rationality is good, a sort of an internal God-Satan war going on?” asked the prime minister.
"Sort of,” said Secord, “but without the value judgments. Both—uh—sides, if we can call them that, are vital, and both have a part to play in every decision, every action."
"So these two ... personalities,” asked the PM, “these two ... parts of me ... I have them ... or I am them?"
"An astute question,” said Secord. “That's ... going to take a while to figure out, and it may not even matter except to scholars and nitpickers. What is important is that all the emotional sticks and carrots are still at the service of, or belong to, the instinct."
Godfrey tried to lock on to the significance of all this, but it wasn't very easy. “People might write this whole idea off as crap, you know,” he said, more as a hope than anything else.
"No can do,” replied Secord. “We've gone way past believing and disbelieving things since the LieDeck came out. This Human One, Human Two analysis is readily LieDeck-verifiable."
"Shit,” said the Prime Minister, “I keep forgetting. You're ... sure it's verifiable?"
"Well, he goes on about some Human Three stuff, and that part is a bit speculative—he even gets into some new-fangled socio-economic system in relation to Human Three, but he didn't tell his girlfriend much about that. However, the Human One, Human Two stuff ... well, let me put it this way: I ran it by six people over the telephone, using a LieDeck to verify their responses, and every one of them already knew it ... meaning on the subconscious level. And I think if I did the same for a thousand people, or a million people, it would still come out unanimous. If people were that certain of the existence of God, I'd say straight out that there is a God. Bottom line is that we know who we were, meaning Human One, and we know who we are, and we ar
e Human Two, as Helliwell defines it. This isn't actually a theory he made up, sir. It's something that he's ... well, discovered. Whole different ball of wax there, sir."
"Okay, okay,” conceded the prime minister. “Go on with ... with that stuff..."
"Mr. Helliwell projects the emergence of a Human Three, a new stage of evolution, as the necessary end product of a LieDeck society, the necessary end product of the LieDeck Revolution, as scholars would likely phrase it now. A—uh—Human Three man is exactly the same as Human Two, except that he is always capable of making his rationality win over his instinct, and always does so if the consequences of doing otherwise would harm himself, other people, or the planet. It's a form of hyper-enlightened self-interest, I guess you'd call it. Helliwell's theory suggests that when Human Twos yield to instinct, they can regress all the way back to being a Human One, a very clever Human One ... which leaves us with a very high probability—a certainty, actually—of harming the planet, each other, and ourselves. In effect, he's saying that with the magnifying effect that happens as a result of our technology, meaning the way technology enlarges all the consequences of our behavior, we are destined to produce chaos, of some day becoming ... well, apes with nukes, sir. I+T=C."
"And ... you think he's right?"
"It's sort of like the wheel, sir. Once you see it in motion, you realize there's nothing to it, but it works, and you wonder why you never figured it out before, and how you ever got along without it."
"But ... the Human Three part isn't verifiable?"
"No, at least not by me at this time. I'd have to have a Human Three in front of me to do that, and I don't know if there even are any yet. The terms ‘Human One, Two, and Three’ aren't important, Prime Minister, but if we do adopt his terminology, then I'd have to say I know we are Human Two, and I believe we will become Human Three, just as Mr. Helliwell predicts—and for the reason he predicts it—because of the LieDeck, sir."
Godfrey felt like he was about to lose bladder control, or more. “Well, that's all very well and good for our grandchildren,” he said calmly, “but ... I have to deal with the here and now. So, Dr. Secord, do you see any practical applications for this theory?"
"It's hard to think of a practical matter where it doesn't apply!"
"Example?"
"You name it, it applies."
"Air pollution."
Dr. Secord closed his eyes, paused for about five seconds, and there it was. “Polluters pressure government to relax standards for reasons of profit. However, the best interests of humanity and global survival require a stricter standard. A Human Two politician fears the power of polluting industries to influence the political process, and a Human Two politician fears the consequences for re-election, since the tax implications of stricter pollution controls won't be popular. So he acts based on those fears, decides not to raise the standards, but he must pretend that his policies are rational and within his mandate to represent the best interests of the electorate. The LieDeck will detect such ruses in future, of course. A Human Three leader would make the rational choice, and opt for the stricter pollution standards, in the long term interests of the electorate and the planet."
"Fear be damned?"
"Exactly."
"And he would lose the next election!"
"Well, yes, if the electorate is still Human Two, but if—"
"Overpopulation?” interrupted Godfrey.
"There's too many people for available resources,” said Dr. Secord plainly. “Human Three politicians would institute an international policy of one kid per couple, since that would cut the world population by half each generation; we do that for three generations, and we'll have a world population of ... one billion or so ... in a century. After that, two kids per couple produces ZPG—zero population growth."
"You ... just figured that out?"
"Like I said, it's like the wheel,” explained Dr. Secord. “Quite suddenly, what used to be hard is child's play. Being rational simply isn't that difficult once you can ignore how you feel."
"What about enforcement for a population-reduction program?"
"The Human Threes in the world won't need any enforcement. They'll do it because they know in their rational minds that it makes sense in terms of their own self interest."
"Violence?"
"Makes far more problems than it solves. Law is better, warts and all. Where there's no enforceable law, like on the international level, we'll have to create law, world law ... enforceable world law. Violence, whether it's a parent spanking a kid, a duel, a barroom brawl, or a WMD war, is for immature people with lazy brains and an almost treasonous refusal to think rationally—the equivalent to reckless endangerment, minimum. At least that's how I think a Human Three would view it. I'm new at this myself, sir."
"And this ... I guess you'd call it a transition to Human Three,” asked the PM, “the majority of people can make it in...?"
"The majority?"
"Yeah."
"In Canada? I'd say a couple of years, tops."
"So ... that could be ... before the next election?"
"Yes sir."
"And how long for a particular individual to—uh—switch over?” The Prime Minister could hardly believe he was having this conversation, but indeed he was.
"Well, some people will refuse to do it at all, I suppose,” said Dr. Secord. “But any individual person can understand the whole thing and commit to the transition in maybe ... half an hour, and a person could become a Human Three, consolidate the change, in ... a month, maybe even a week. Some people might be able to do it in ... a couple of days, and I would guess that those who do it first will be very busy for a few months helping other people get it done.” He dearly hoped the Prime Minister would not think to ask him whether he, personally, was in the midst of this transition right at this very moment, or if he'd already reached the far bank of that river. What would I say? He wondered. Just the truth, came the answer from somewhere in his head that he didn't feel in charge of. But it was right, that answer. The LieDeck made it necessary to speak the truth, and the truth was that he, Dr. Secord, already was a Human Three, just as a newborn foal already is a horse ... albeit still wet behind the ears and not terribly stable on its pins. And some of us will just say “eureka,” and it's done, he thought to add, but didn't dare say out loud.
"Jesus Christ!” spit the Prime Minister.
"Yeah. Pretty scary!” admitted Dr. Secord. “But the transition he talks about just isn't particularly difficult for people with reasonably good minds and the right attitude."
"Stay on the line, please,” said Godfrey. “Jacques,” he barked at his chief of staff after pressing the “hold” button, “I want Secord's tape here in thirty minutes, and I want our top people on it. I want a full report by seven p.m. And get me Ambassador Jacks on the phone.” He pressed “hold” again. “You still there, Dr. Secord?"
* * *
"That's about it,” said Winnie as she finished telling Annette about Victor's theory of Human One, Two, Three. “I'm not sure I explained it very well. It's my second time through it today."
"That's nothing more than a rehash of Freudian psychology, and not a very good one at that,” said Annette. “I mean ... I don't know that much about Freud, except that he said everything came down to sex, didn't he? Wasn't the ‘id’ supposed to be the instinctive part of human personality?"
"Freud, shmoid,” said Winnie. “Who cares about believing theories any more? Before we had the LieDeck, a credible theory was whatever you could get away with ... or sell ... or whatever you could get people to buy into. We don't even have to believe Victor or not believe him. Belief is kaput, not needed, disgraced, stupid. To me, it's ... like coming out of a zillion-mile-long cave, into the light. We can't fool ourselves any more."
Annette seemed content to weigh what she was hearing. There was a lot to digest here, even for a person of her intellect.
Winnie felt it would be best to continue. “There ... is more,�
�� she said.
"Like ... what?” asked Annette.
"Like some things are instinctive, but also rational, for instance, while other things are instinctive and irrational, and others are rational but feel all wrong, instinctively. Is this ... making sense to you?"
"But what would be rational but feel wrong instinctively?” asked Annette.
"When I asked Victor about that, he used the example of a bear,” said Winnie. “If a bear looks like it's about to attack you and you don't have a gun to kill it, you'd want to run away as fast as you can. Your instinct says that's the right response, but if you do run, you'll almost certainly get killed. But ... if you just lie perfectly still, even if the bear hits you or bites you, it will usually assume you're dead, lose interest and leave you alone. You see what I mean?"
"Yeah, I think so,” said Annette. “What about love?"
"What about it?"
"Is it instinctive or rational?"
Winnie rolled her eyes and considered the question for a few seconds, long enough to realize that she didn't know the answer. She picked up her outsize purse, and rummaged through the clutter until she found her LieDeck. “When I really want to know, I have to use it,” she explained.
"Sort of a high-tech conscience,” ventured Annette as her pal turned the device on.
"Love is instinctive,” said Winnie directly into the microphone holes. She waited for a beep that never came, that she didn't really expect. “Because,” she continued, “it draws men and women together for sex ... so they'll have offspring ... so that the species will survive. There! You see? Love is instinctive ... not that I care a hell of a great deal!” She placed her LieDeck on the bedside table.
"But is it also rational?” asked Annette.
"Why don't you find out yourself,” suggested Winnie.
"Okay,” said Annette. “Jeeze, this is fun, and exciting. So ... love...” she hesitated, enjoying the hunt and attempting to second-guess the outcome. “Love is instinctive, but it is also ... rational.” There was no beep.
Winnie was astonished. She had expected a beep, for sure. “Let me try,” she said. “Love is instinctive ... but it is not rational,” she said.
