Intellectual Chaos | Teen Ink

Intellectual Chaos

October 14, 2014
By Chanseung Lee BRONZE, Eugene, Oregon
Chanseung Lee BRONZE, Eugene, Oregon
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Approximately a year after the innovation of the Easy, Jacob Flood stood in a middle of an endless field of agriculture, next to a small oakwood cabin, only beauties of nature nearby for hundreds of miles. The fresh October breeze brushed and scoured the tired man’s glassy face as his watery eyes reflected the rising orange sun’s morning shine. Once an ingenious scientist that changed the world, Jacob now stood separated from humanity he had innovated and destroyed.
As Jacob stood, gathering the fresh fall breeze into his outstretched arms, a teenage girl and a young boy stood paces behind him, each with a different facial expression. The girl, standing calmly with her hands deep into her pockets, manifested an undoubtedly inconsolable sentiment while the child kicked the thin dust beneath his feet, grumbling and loudly complaining.
“Why are we here?” the young boy stomped his small feet on the ground and squeaked. “All my friends are back at the town, having fun with the Easy, and…and… my dad made the Easy! Why can’t I use it? Everyone else gets to!”
The girl bent over and gently patted the young boy at his head.

Arguably, the scientist that changed the world the most was Jacob Flood. He started as an erudite professor researching neurochemistry in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wearing snowy white lab coat and striding forth and back across his massive lab as he directed his assistants on various impressive experiments. His passion for science had soon outputted a discovery none other had ever imagined: a method for extraction, replication, and implementation of knowledge and physical abilities.
With Jacob’s complex but clear extraction method, wisdom and knowledge within brains from those of who were educated could literally be copied, stored within a serum, and pasted into another by consuming the “smart” liquid. Professor Jacob had poured three of his precious years upon the glorious invention with intent to accelerate the advances in technology by empowering the brains of the scientists, along with assisting those who were handicapped intellectually. Doubtlessly, humanity endlessly thanked and credited Professor Jacob for such a breathtaking discovery, and Jacob felt proud and pleased to contribute to the world. Immediately, students began learning material at speeds never fathomed before, athletes boosted their strength and agility at an enormous pace by consuming muscle memory, and mentally handicapped were cured with a quick swap of intelligence. In a word, the humanity was at its prime, because not only were all of the currently available knowledge in the world already distributed, but the moment a new innovation was triggered the new wisdom was granted to all. Of course, the definition of competitive spirit became meaningless, but the innovative society was advancing at such rate that all were content.
Then came a crafty billionaire named Jax Trail, the owner of mountains of cash who desperately wanted power and authority (as all men do) along with his wealth. As soon as he noticed how vastly the humanity was influenced by the invention of Easy, he swiftly (before anyone else could beat him to it) hired a writer to construct a splendent letter that charmingly complimented Jacob for his glorious discovery. Next, Jax’s writer quickly mailed another letter that duplicitously introduced Jax as a warm-hearted adroit-minded wealthy man who centered his life on the benefit of humanity. Towards the end of the deceitful letter, Jax offered a grand amount of money, entitling it a “generous donation to his research”, in return for the patent and ownership of the Easy. Although Jacob was at first startled by such an unexpected offer; however, the hired writer had worded the letter of offer so mendaciously but resplendently colorful that it made Jacob sit down and contemplate.
“By inheriting the responsibility of the world’s most popular biological discovery to a sagacious, wealthy, and capable man who is offering me great fund in return,” Jacob concluded, “I could make use of the great money to research science like never before!” So approximately four weeks after the public knew about the Easy, Jacob surrendered the ownership of the Easy to Jax Trail for fifty million dollars.
But Jax Trail was not the man the letter Jacob had read introduced him as.
As if a slow-footed tiger had just been granted a rifle, Jax immediately seized power by halting the complimentary use of the Easy and declaring that if anyone desired to access the Easy, he/she would need to sign a contract promising a lifetime obedience towards Jax and a great amount of cash. Soon, the gap of intelligence between the wealthy followers of Jax and the poor only increased, solidifying a suddenly-made cerebral social structure between the intellectual wealthy and the poor average. The rich, powerful geniuses devised deceitful political methods to manipulate the average-minds without much dissatisfaction, giving birth to an unfair social pyramid with the brain-compact ones up above.

“You are right Tim, some of the rich ones in our neighborhood are using the Easy,” the teenage girl explained softly, her voice shaking. “But there is a reason Tim, a great reason to why father has settled us hundreds of miles from any sight of the Easy.
“Now, an year after the Easy was born, knowledge is currency. Do you remember an year ago, when schools taught by books and the ones who worked hard gained more knowledge,  not the ones who had more money?. The ones with power and money now rule over the unintelligent with wisdom they gained…easily. Father feels accountable for morphing knowledge from a tool to innovation to a hammer of control,” the teen girl voiced tenderly, but with so much intensity that the child now listened stiffly. “A wonderful innovation the Easy was, until Jax took hold of it…”
“The ‘wonderful innovation’ was a poison from the start,” Jacob, who still stood with his arms outstretched, suddenly boomed.
“It was not! It was a discovery that, with the right hands, could have change the world! And I mean in a positive way!” the girl argued.
Jacob shook his gloomy head as he stiffly rested his body on a flat, gray rock. “Even I didn’t see it at first, but the Easy was a barbarous, inhuman instrument that turned the blood, sweat, and time of the ones who worked hard to gain their wisdom valueless.” He rose slowly and firmly grasped the shoulders of the teenager and the child. “If the humanity ever recovers itself from the apocalypse of intellect I infected the world with, always remember this, dear children. There is no “easy” way to success… and some roads may seem like shortcuts, but a deceitful one like this leads to utter failure…”
Above the three, a hawk flew across carrying a fresh mouse, tired but happy for his success.


The author's comments:

There isn't and will not be an "easy" way to succeed.


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