Read Online Perfectible Animals: A Post Apocalyptic Technothriller (EidoGenesis Book 1) by Thomas Norwood - Free Book Online
Authors: Thomas Norwood
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all,” Dylan said, pouring more wine. “In fact, you know what I think you should concentrate your research on Michael?”
“What’s that?”
“Sexual jealousy.” He glanced briefly at Annie, relaxing back into his chair with his hands clasped behind his head.
“Sexual jealousy?”
“That’s right. Imagine if you removed sexual jealousy from the range of human experiences. We’d all be a lot better off.”
“If you ask me,” I said, “we’d all be a lot better off without so much sex at all. Maybe we could come into heat once a year, just for reproductive purposes, and then spend the rest of the time not thinking about it.”
We all laughed again, and my heart soared with the pleasure of friendship.
As I was finishing the smoked trout on my plate I felt Sophie’s calf come to rest gently on my right leg. My whole consciousness was drawn to it, and to my surprise she didn’t move. I wasn’t sure if she’d done it on purpose. Maybe she thought it was the table leg. Or maybe she hadn’t noticed. Or maybe for her physical contact didn’t mean as much as it did to me. Dylan and Sophie were poly-amorists, as was everyone in the New Church. According to Dylan it helped bond the tribe, just as it had done in many primitive societies, and as it did in bonobos. I wondered what place polyamory, or polygamy, had played in original human evolution and if it might not be a more natural form of relating than our enforced monogamy.
A week later, I hurried along the dimly lit corridor of the Geneus offices to catch up with Masanori, whom I could see up ahead. I’d been trying to contact everybody I knew who could possibly be interested in investing in our immune system research, but had gotten nowhere. I still hadn’t heard back from Sophie and was starting to doubt I would.
Masanori turned to look at me as he slowed his pace.
“Michael-san.” He nodded at me.
“What do you think’s going to happen?” I said. Today was the report-back on our cooperation research.
“I think we’re going to be told that we’re idealistic fools for even imagining they might be able to find investors for something like this.”
“You’re probably right.”
I pushed the heavy wooden door of the Geneus boardroom open and we took our places and waited patiently for Klaus to finish a call he was on.
I looked out the window at the early morning city filling with mist. Buildings rose out of it like trees in a forest, fighting for light in the ever-competitive real estate market. From here you could see over to the bay where old apartment buildings and skyscrapers stood in the water like dead trees in a lake. Some of them had been redesigned, with jetties and boats around them, enabling their residents to continue to live in them, but others had simply been abandoned or taken over by the ever-increasing population of homeless.
“Okay, let’s get started,” Klaus said, silencing the room with his commanding voice. “Rachel, what have you got for us?”
Rachel made a few adjustments on her com and statistics came up on everyone’s overlays. I looked at the survey questions, imprinted over the world around me. I darkened the background with a short subvocal command so as to read the results more clearly. As the faces of the board members faded out the survey questions faded in.
Do you think humans should be made more cooperative?
90% yes, 7% no, 3% undecided.
Would you be interested in a genetic modification able to achieve this result?
70% yes, 21% no, 9% undecided.
If such technology were freely available, would you be interested in applying it to your own children?
15% yes, 71% no, 14% undecided.
Would you pay for such a modification?
1.5% yes, 91% no, 7.5% undecided.
Would you be prepared to accept a less selfish, more cooperative child as a side effect of a modification which substantially improved the immune system?
21% yes, 46% no, 33%
“What’s that?”
“Sexual jealousy.” He glanced briefly at Annie, relaxing back into his chair with his hands clasped behind his head.
“Sexual jealousy?”
“That’s right. Imagine if you removed sexual jealousy from the range of human experiences. We’d all be a lot better off.”
“If you ask me,” I said, “we’d all be a lot better off without so much sex at all. Maybe we could come into heat once a year, just for reproductive purposes, and then spend the rest of the time not thinking about it.”
We all laughed again, and my heart soared with the pleasure of friendship.
As I was finishing the smoked trout on my plate I felt Sophie’s calf come to rest gently on my right leg. My whole consciousness was drawn to it, and to my surprise she didn’t move. I wasn’t sure if she’d done it on purpose. Maybe she thought it was the table leg. Or maybe she hadn’t noticed. Or maybe for her physical contact didn’t mean as much as it did to me. Dylan and Sophie were poly-amorists, as was everyone in the New Church. According to Dylan it helped bond the tribe, just as it had done in many primitive societies, and as it did in bonobos. I wondered what place polyamory, or polygamy, had played in original human evolution and if it might not be a more natural form of relating than our enforced monogamy.
A week later, I hurried along the dimly lit corridor of the Geneus offices to catch up with Masanori, whom I could see up ahead. I’d been trying to contact everybody I knew who could possibly be interested in investing in our immune system research, but had gotten nowhere. I still hadn’t heard back from Sophie and was starting to doubt I would.
Masanori turned to look at me as he slowed his pace.
“Michael-san.” He nodded at me.
“What do you think’s going to happen?” I said. Today was the report-back on our cooperation research.
“I think we’re going to be told that we’re idealistic fools for even imagining they might be able to find investors for something like this.”
“You’re probably right.”
I pushed the heavy wooden door of the Geneus boardroom open and we took our places and waited patiently for Klaus to finish a call he was on.
I looked out the window at the early morning city filling with mist. Buildings rose out of it like trees in a forest, fighting for light in the ever-competitive real estate market. From here you could see over to the bay where old apartment buildings and skyscrapers stood in the water like dead trees in a lake. Some of them had been redesigned, with jetties and boats around them, enabling their residents to continue to live in them, but others had simply been abandoned or taken over by the ever-increasing population of homeless.
“Okay, let’s get started,” Klaus said, silencing the room with his commanding voice. “Rachel, what have you got for us?”
Rachel made a few adjustments on her com and statistics came up on everyone’s overlays. I looked at the survey questions, imprinted over the world around me. I darkened the background with a short subvocal command so as to read the results more clearly. As the faces of the board members faded out the survey questions faded in.
Do you think humans should be made more cooperative?
90% yes, 7% no, 3% undecided.
Would you be interested in a genetic modification able to achieve this result?
70% yes, 21% no, 9% undecided.
If such technology were freely available, would you be interested in applying it to your own children?
15% yes, 71% no, 14% undecided.
Would you pay for such a modification?
1.5% yes, 91% no, 7.5% undecided.
Would you be prepared to accept a less selfish, more cooperative child as a side effect of a modification which substantially improved the immune system?
21% yes, 46% no, 33%
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