Stray by Monica Hesse

Author:Monica Hesse [Monica Hesse]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Published: 2013-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

21

Finalist Application for Untitled

Child Welfare Project

(Affiliated with H.R. 29440)

Applicant Number: 321775

Name: Julian Pierce-McKay

Gender: M

Parents: Holly Pierce / David McKay

Evaluators: N. Singh and Q. Greene

Notes from Nora Singh (psychologist)

I wholeheartedly recommend Julian as my primary nominee for the endeavor colloquially known as ‘Path.’ Based on the other prospective applicants I have been assigned to review, Julian is a rather atypical candidate. The majority of hopefuls were equipped with LifeCapture technology because of their parents’ beliefs in their child’s singularity and importance – what my colleagues in adolescent psychology have come to casually refer to as the ‘special snowflake’ effect. On the contrary, Julian’s parents, a surgeon and a librarian, viewed LifeCapture as a technology of scientific and historic importance, and felt it was their duty to participate in early waves of the experiment. Julian, therefore, maintains a healthy sense of self unencumbered by over-involved parenting. Which is to say, he isn’t spoiled.

When I interviewed Julian – now a senior in college – he noted that he was ‘really boring’ and didn’t understand why he was selected. I explained that his life had been carefully reviewed, and that ‘interesting’ was not an important criterion.

Clearly, even his statements of concern regarding his participation in this project display a level of empathy and self-awareness that would be beneficial in any candidate who is ultimately selected. I therefore recommend that Julian be moved forward to the next level of review.

SIGNED: Nora Singh, PhD / December 21

Notes from Quincy Greene (sociologist)

I see it falls to me yet again to be the voice of reason in this hideous project.

I have been informed that I must support someone’s candidacy – that I cannot continue to raise objections, which the committee has deemed ‘roadblocks,’ but which I view as the desperate warnings of an old man who sees his fellow researchers about to make a deep and despairing decision that changes our understandings of our own humanity.

Therefore, I support the candidacy of Julian Pierce-McKay.

It would be preferable to me not to support anyone at all. You are playing with fire, gentlemen and ladies, and I think you know it.

You insist on stating that your goal is perfection, but you continually ignore the repercussions of stating that one child has experienced the ‘perfect’ existence. Is ‘perfection’ not dependent on preference? Is preference not dependent on personality? Is personality not dependent on genetics? Smarter men than I have struggled with these questions, but the fact that Plato and Aristotle weren’t able to sufficiently answer them does not mean, I think, that we should preclude ourselves from asking them.

I am reminded of the philosopher Robert Nozick’s ‘Experience Machine’ thought experiment, in which he weighed the potential benefits and pitfalls of a specially equipped tank, which humans could program to give them ‘ideal’ experiences, and in which they could choose to live for years at a time. Would it matter that those events were not ‘real,’ Nozick wondered? Would such an existence truly constitute a ‘life’? Would the human spirit ultimately be harmed by its lack of harm?

But you want my analysis of Julian.

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