Page 90 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

The Vorax

The psychoceramic partial to one-size-fits-all problem-solving may
conceal his obsession beneath a genuine concern for human welfare
and a hard-headed appreciation of efficiency and economies of scale.
Avery Goodman, it quickly became apparent as I studied his history
and habits, was one such type. A successful scientist in the primeval
ooze of biotechnology, he had developed in early middle age the
fixed notion that a single simple solution could be found for almost
any social ill. He exercised his stock options in his long-time
employer Chimeratech, quit his job there and set about
demonstrating to the world his expertise, applicable, said he, “across
multiple platforms of multicultural expression.”
Had he not gone belly-up with his first scheme, he might not have
needed help from a benefactor like Al Magnus with the next. But
both ideas were far enough off the wall to attract no one but that
patron of eccentricity. Magnus was determined to give discredited
crackpots one more shot at proving themselves against the orthodox
naysayers and defenders of the status quo, buying them a ticket for
one last ride on the merry-go-round to grab the brass ring. I was his
instrument of financial enablement, the guy who had the talent and
moxie to convince a suspicious and rejected prophet that someone at
last recognized the brilliance of his plans and was ready to back that
up with real money. But Magnus, owing to his position in corporate
America, did not want his name associated with these ventures; thus,
as he instructed, I resorted to subterfuge, tailoring my approach to
the situation and personality at hand.
Avery had arrived at hunger as a crisis capable of elimination via
his methods. His first conclusion was that the difficulty lay in
distribution, not production: the world’s wealthier people had plenty
to eat, even more than they needed. A poor family could live on what
a rich one threw out, and vast quantities of high-quality government-
subsidized food were destroyed annually to support prices. What to
do? This thinker-outside-the-box seized upon a previously
unperceived relationship between the haves and the have-nots. The
socioeconomic extremes normally were at odds: those with means
guarded them jealously, to the point of hoarding, to avoid falling into
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