Sci-Fi Thriller I — The Election of 2052
By: Jay Toran
Tags: Politics, Biotechnology, Future, Society, Technology

I tried to change the subject. “You played today, Bob?” I knew what he’d say.

“Naw. No time.

“Besides, this isn’t politics,” he said. “It’s science.”

“Don’t tell me he’s going to have the Democracy-implants put in,” I said.

“I will tell you.”

“That’s politics Bob,” Joe growled.

“Indirectly,” Robert countered.

“Of all things!” Joe exclaimed.

“All the candidates should be forced to get the Dem-plants!”

“Why on earth! Everybody’s already socially imprinted with the idea of democracy.”

It’s true. Joe just can’t help himself.

Robert said, with his mouth full, “It’d be the best thing. Remember what T.Rump did back then. He wouldn’t have attempted it if they’d had Dem-plants.”

Of course, I said, “It just so happens I’m teaching T.Rump this week. And I can tell you that there’s no implant out there that would have prevented Trump from doing anything he wanted.”

I decided to give them a lecture.

“It wasn’t that T.Rump didn’t have a concept of democracy. The problem was that he was a flawed human being. A lot of it came out when his tax returns went public. Sure, he falsely claimed the election was a fraud. Half the country knew it was false at the time. But that wasn’t because he didn’t want a democracy. That was because his stunted personality couldn’t accept the possibility of losing. That’s why he ignored the start of WW II½.”

I finished with, “It didn’t take historians long to conclude he was totally, completely, and absolutely the worst president the U.S. ever had. It had as much to do with all his corruption about the money and pardons, as his fundamentally flawed psyche.”

Joe joined in. He’d been writing a lot about the implants lately. “Factually speaking, they had implants back in 1997. Just nothing like what we have today. But it’s really questionable if any implants we have today would’ve made any difference at all.”

My thoughts exactly. I imagined that Robert probably would have voted for Trump, but I didn’t say anything.

The cute waitress refilled our drinks, but Robert was too excited to look her over.

Robert said, “I don’t know about 1997. That was way before my time. But I heard they were putting implants in monkeys when T.Rump was around. So they almost could-a had something like a Dem-plant.

“Think of all the agony that would-a saved. He’d never-a tried to overthrow democracy by claiming the election was rigged. And him and his cronies were talking about martial law!”

“They could read single neurons back then,” Joe said. But they had no way to stimulate a single neuron until way later. The implants were miniscule. They were just getting started with DBS on the vagus nerve. That’s what started the whole ball rolling. Trying to cure heart disease and diabetes. That’s where it really picked up.”

My education in physics and history didn’t get down to that level of detail, so I didn’t comment. What I did say was, “Democracy the only implant he’s getting, Bob? I doubt it.”

“He’ll get the Truth-plant as a matter of course.”

Joe practically jumped down his throat. “That won’t make any difference! Your candidate will never tell the truth, implant or not!”

“I’ve got you there! The Truth implant will definitely work. That throws your argument right outta the window!”

All Joe could come back with was, “So you say.”

I interjected, “How can they be so sure they’re connecting to the right neurons?!”

Robert claimed, “It’s an exact science.”

I was going to say, “Well, you have to know a little bit about science in order to learn something about physics. I’m here to tell you, it’s not an exact science yet. Not by a long shot.” Instead, I got real snarky and said, “You know, Bob? I saw a quote the other day that I think applies.”

The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.

Robert didn’t take it as I intended it and said, in all good humor, “I thought I was only dealing with Joe!”

Then we all paused for a bite and a sip.