bravenewworld

Brave New World Realized

Link to Forum. | Link to Main Page | Link to other Essays

He sighed contentedly, at least, as much as was actually possible. Really, the final stages had been carried out long before but at this particular moment he was feeling for the first time that it was safe to relish in his accomplishments. It hadn't been easy, but it had been certainly worth it. He gazed out of his reinforced bulletproof glass window into his creation below. And it was good.

The memories, such that they were, flooded back. Where they began he wasn't quite certain anymore, but he knew that at the very least the seeds were sown in biology class long ago. Survival of the fittest. Only the fittest survive. The only thing that matters is to survive. Survive. This seemed an explicit moral mandate. At the very least, it became his one mantra. No. He did remember. It was clearer now. It was November 22, 1963. In three deaths, a whole year of study was brought into instant clarity. The seeds of his plan were sown, and sown deep. The plan was simple: obey the mandate.

The powerful, the rich, the famous, all will fade. It may be in an instant as on that day, or it might be more gradually as one's body endures time. There was no promise, no assurance, no reasonable expectation, no hope that even the strongest fellow would be able to defy the fate of all men. Once dead, all meaning ceases. We only have our time alive in order to fulfill the mandate, but we have so little control over how long that will be or what quality it will consist of.

But should he for that reason throw up his arms? If that is the case, he may as well put a bullet in his head and save valuable resources for others (as if that had meaning). But there was another option.

The difficulty in obeying the mandate in any meaningful way was clear from the outset. Ironically, the problem was that opposed to this absolute principle of Nature was the fact that Nature itself seemed set against it. What was the fittest? That which survived. Who survives? The fittest. Yes, but nothing survives forever, so even this tautology (long ago resolved by the thinking biologists) is meaningless when faced with nature's ultimate addendum: Survive, yes. But not forever. Even the fittest will not survive forever. Nature was the master, and he knew from the beginning that her dominance must be fully overthrown if he was to obey the only moral absolute.

He would take over the world. Only Nature and Man stood in his way. He hoped that what had been said was right: To abolish Man, master Nature. More recollections were coming to him now…

The most obvious problem was that if he were to dominate the world, he simply didn't have the time or resources to do so. There just wasn't enough time in one normal life time to accomplish such a goal. Perhaps if he had more money, more resources, more MORE, he could have succeeded. But to rule the world and die as an old man? To betray the golden rule? He would bide his time. He would gather resources. Most importantly, he would buy more time.

He went to school as a biophysicist and found a job at a pharmaceutical company and by careful planning found himself working on discovering and isolating the causes of aging. He expanded his knowledge. He advanced his career. It was not his money, after all, that was supporting this research. The millionaires wanted to be revived after death- and the billionaires did not want to die at all. He was ruthless. He would outwit them all. It took him decades, but at last he had the knowledge, the data, the information. Though he could not reverse matters, he would not age any more. He would be Nature's master. By scrupulous effort, the secret was not revealed to the greater scientific community. How many hundreds were searching for what he had found? But they had ambition only for money and fame. Some entertained a laughable concept- 'for human kind.' It may have been chance, but it was borne of thousands of experiments and thousands and thousands of hours of analysis, so he deserved it, and it was his.

And he was the president of the company now, so that helped. No one suspected the power that he had. His mastery of genetics, his philanthropic reputation, his wealth, all these things enabled him to slowly put into action his plan. Ever so slowly, imperceptibly. He would have to move money, conceal his intent. He would have to fake his death so as to not arouse suspicion. The funeral was wonderful. He told no one the truth.

Under a new name he set up business. He was very careful. He had plenty of time and so long as he was not discovered, the freedom to move. He did not need much freedom, or for very long. But he had to be careful (and he was). He carefully selected DNA and catalogued and preserved it. He studied computers, developed automotive innovations, and expanded his knowledge base. He modified his own genes- tricky business for professionals let alone one professional operating by himself on his own self.

He was careful in his implementation. Who would stand in his way? Those that would stand in his way needed to be eliminated leaving only those that wouldn't, and then after them, only those that couldn't. Who would resist him? Only those with certain principles. He would see to it that any that would die for a truth, would. What that truth was didn't matter. Who would not resist him? Ironically, the very people that taught him about survival of the fittest. They would standby and let him operate, at least for a time. They did not have any principles that they'd put into effect until the moment of appropriate action had passed. He knew he had plenty of time.

They had not the courage (that he had) to act on their convictions.

He made every effort to make it possible for the weak to survive, for of all people, they could not stop him. He would save them for last. For this he (through his front companies) was called a friend to mankind! They could not know that thanks to his careful deployment of drugs and his thwarting of several research projects, no cures for diseases had been found. He allowed treatment of symptoms to continue. He kept the drugs available, and once he stopped the flow, millions of people would suddenly be incapacitated. It was a delicate balance.

Halfway through the twenty-second century he had a scare. Besides being discovered, it turns out that he wasn't the only one bent on trying to take over the world. Of course, Raleigh was wicked and ruthless and succeeded in dominating by force a significant portion of the earth's population. But he failed to ensure for himself immortality, and he also failed to realize the historical truth that the oppressed people are the tyrant's downfall. The oppressed people must be eliminated. They are not fit to live. They can't be allowed to survive. It had been difficult to remain hidden during that time. He had only needed a few more decades at that point, anyway. But thankfully, the oppressed people rose up and strung Raleigh up by his own entrails. Only the fit survive. Mental fitness must be factored in as well.

But finally the moment had come. It was brilliant. After all, the deaths that were the seed of his plan had already provided an outline of sorts. But in this world the first to die needed to be the brave. He needed a cowardly Old World. All his efforts were to be rewarded. He unleashed upon the unsuspecting world through his various front companies (manned by unsuspecting individuals) a lethal biological agent that he himself was genetically immune to, but due to deliberate yet subtle genetic engineering most of the world's population was utterly defenseless against.

As stupid as his fellow men are, they weren't so stupid not to finally figure it out. But years ago he had already given the strong and courageous of the world a deathblow. Through his aggressive liberalizing he had suppressed religions of all kinds and bankrolled further oppression against these same. It had almost backfired- this was precisely how he had inadvertently let Raleigh come to power. Fortunately the moral relativists left in the world managed to justify by an extensive process of philosophical gymnastics reasons why they ought to overthrow the oppressor. But they were only operating, ultimately, on the principle of 'self-preservation.' Raleigh's demise was traced to another principle, 'survival of the fittest.' And he was not fit. His own plan survived this unexpected result of his careful musings and the courageous were at last eliminated. The passive humanists were all that remained. Well, the millions of genetically crippled too; but not for long.

Once Raleigh was out of the way it was really a simple matter of blackmail. He had the cure to their sickness. He would not give them the cure unless they agreed to certain conditions. All he told them was that he wanted money. Money would soon be worthless, but he did not tell them that. They gave him lots of money. He gave them the cure. Those bleeding hearts distributed the cure according to the dosage he had set. Fools. By the time the world had begun organizing to overthrow him and his new army (bought with all his new money) the delayed biological mechanism concealed in the 'cure' killed almost all of them. The smell of their bodies as they decayed was thick. Thick. It was like perfume to him.

And he was the only one left. At least, to speak of, he was the only one left. It took him almost another century, but eventually he had eliminated every Homo sapien that still existed in the wild. It was survival of the fittest, and he had successfully orchestrated his own survival, and the unfitness of the rest of the population. And he would not commit that continual blunder- there would be NO heirs to his throne.

But this had just been the beginning of his success. He had needs. He recalled that ancient outline. In it, the masses were doped with happiness. He would use fear. He would become God. A man is very smart after four centuries of learning. He cloned women and had them build a large enclosed dome out of steel, concrete, titanium, and durable polymers. It was hard work for them, but in his experiments men were irrepressibly brave, no matter how he conditioned them (yes, even the moral relativists would exhibit bravery). So only women would do. He knew that as long as they had no children to look after, their bravery was easily controlled. With the help of his computer automation, it only took a few years to finish the task. The foundations, after all, had already been placed decades before. They worked because he kept them terrified of stopping.

At last it was done. And atop of the dome he had a large hermeneutically sealed residence for himself. Air filters, water purifiers, closely monitored climate conditions all worked to protect him from the one thing that could still threaten him: Nature herself. That same mother that taught him the truth about the world while rendering the lesson meaningless through the reality of death still had her ways. Some microbe from outer space, some new disease among the mosquitoes, it could be anything. He knew you could not be sure. Therefore he would stay in his residence. And outside, through the reinforced windows, he could see on all sides the community he had created and sustained below, inside the dome.

The old outline prescribed soma. He would give them electrocution. When he cloned a new woman he would send them through his automated factory and machines would plunge electrocution devices near the infant's hearts. Each of these devices could send small sparks, or large ones. They were all networked and computerized. He could electrocute any woman at any time. And he watched them all. Sure, many women died as infants during the implantation procedure. But he knew that they had no value other than that which he assigned them. The few that lived would be enough.

It was tricky business though. Some things in the human nature just kept surfacing. They needed rules for example, so he gave them some. Some of the women he kept alive passed along the rules: Don't look up. Never touch the outer walls. Do your duty. Survival is all that matters- if you break a rule, you will die. And he could kill them, with a switch, with the click of a button. At first he would do it just for fun and enjoyed watching the other women react to the smell of burnt flesh and hair. But then despair and depression would set in and then the rules had no effect, the women would simply adopt kamikaze behavior. He had to clone whole new batches. Also, some would look up despite the rules. They would see him looking down, watching them- enjoying them in the only way he allowed himself. He could not catch them all. He had to keep the population pure. His solution was novel. He had automated beasts, 'dogs,' if you will. They would periodically be set loose in the population. The women were conditioned to cower and hide, and if they did, they would live. Those that tried to protect their friends, or fight the dogs, or show any sign of bravery whatsoever- he fried them. He fried them good. And the dogs would consume them while they all watched. And so long as he didn't over use the dogs, he was able to weed out those with courage and any hint of belligerence.

He could not manipulate every aspect of the outline. He had to give them sex. Sex without knowledge made them free to be the animals they were. (Of course they were sterilized from birth. One would think it wouldn't matter. The question of abiogenesis had never been answered, though, and he was taking no chances. Sometimes he wondered at what point one should conclude that if something has no answer, it is effectively impossible. Of course, he didn't want to think about that very long…). And he could not have sex with them- not all parts of the human body age well over four centuries. Besides, they could have germs that he'd missed. But he would watch. Sometimes on video, other times just on the bio-monitors he had implanted in them (numbers flickering erratically, erotically, before his eyes). It was enough. For him. For them. But they needed sexual release.

They needed rules. They needed religion. He gave them all they needed, and with a little effort there were only a few needs that Nature imposed that he could not overrule. He was their god. It was recorded in symbols everywhere: Fear God. Obey the rules. Bow your eyes.

He sighed again. Watching his ant colony at work from above, he had a distant remembrance. A conversation he overheard 'online' hundreds of years earlier. Something about the progress of science, about the power of skepticism. He chuckled to himself. How naive they were. Wasn't it obvious? Wasn't it clear? The mandate was resounding. Survive. Only the fit survive. Do not trifle with the weak. But the skeptics were not skeptical of everything. They had hope that science would bring utopia, even if they denied it. There was charm in the utopian New World. But they forgot the golden rule. Why should science be used for Man's best interest? But they didn't have courage or conviction, or both. Science was just another weapon in the arsenal of the fittest. Why not?

So here he was. He was Solomon with his 1,000 lesbian wives. He was the final Adam. Sitting now in front of his monitor, he observed his creation in various stages of activity, scanned for incoming asteroids, evaluated the climate, and kept tabs on Nature outside his Kingdom. The Abolition of Man was complete, and in his opinion, it was not all that bad. Superman had arrived, the Ubermensch was here. His arrival is easy if he is the only man left.

And as he concluded his reminiscing for the day, he had one final thought: "How terrific that none of my fellow secular humanist atheist evolutionists didn't think about this obvious, possible, and equally valid manifestation of our belief system, first."

Surviving is so much easier when there is no competition.