Page 29 - Three Adventures

Deflator Mouse

far away as the technical means of its implementation.
Further, the establishment of an omnipotent “expert” would
be merely the lesser of two evils, the greater being planetary
destruction. Survival’s price would be endless servitude to
the machine, like naughty children in the hands of a stern
and incorruptible disciplinarian. Abundance and leisure may
prove millennial under such a regime, but decisions on many
levels would forever be out of human control. Could the
species regain a new equilibrium under mechanical
supervision? The need to consider that sort of speculation is
obviated by impending doom, but man has always acted
under the constraints of an external system: nature, in all its
unpredictable moods. It may be argued that much of human
belligerence is a function of flood and famine; the peaks and
valleys of environmental support would by leveled by
cybernetic management of resources and populations,
eliminating the need to migrate and conquer.

With two evils competing for most probable outcome, is
there no greater good to work for? If Pandora’s Box cannot
be repacked and returned to sender, the wonders of science
already unleashed must be brought to heel and harnessed for
the production of a just and human-centered technocracy.
The employees of Litmus Industries, particularly those
engaged in Project Salamander, are obligated to redirect their
energies toward this end. Instead of developing cybernetics
for a new generation of weaponry, their skills will henceforth
be used in the application of renewable resources to basic
human needs, such as the construction and maintenance of
housing, schools, and hospitals.

Deflator Mouse
Director, Department of Futurology

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