were in some cases doubling or tripling their previous simian
intelligence scores. But that wasn’t all! These subjects also had
become physically stronger and healthier, not to mention calmer and
(he felt odd saying this) seemed wiser than they had previously or
than any of the other subjects. Rapidly they became the dominant
monkeys of the group, commanding respect from the other males
and increased sexual attraction from the females. When he checked
the charts to see what had made the difference, the result staggered
him. These were the chimpanzees who had been exposed to the tapes
of human beings clearing their minds completely. They had
essentially been listening to the amplified nothingness of non-
thought.
Harvey was no aficionado of Eastern mysticism, but found
himself compelled to admit that these monkeys had essentially
meditated the equivalent of a lifetime in the span of a few minutes.
They had, for lack of a more-scientific term, achieved what the
Japanese called
satori
. They had transcended their narrow
worldviews and apprehended something higher which changed them
profoundly—they had become enlightened. Harvey wondered if that
meant they had become more like humans now, or something else
entirely.
What came clear to him was something so simple and at the
same time dumbfounding: In the same way that the bicycle had been
an extension of man’s feet, the telescope an extension of his eye, the
computer an extension of man’s intellect, this machine could be
made to operate as a sort of extension of man’s wisdom, his inner
dynamic. Instant sainthood. Automatic Zen.
He called it the
Epiphany Machine
.
Harvey’s own mind began to spin. If this device could induce
intelligence, strength and wisdom in Chimpanzees, there was no
reason that it couldn’t do the same for human beings. The
possibilities intoxicated him. He didn’t tell anyone about the
remarkable side effects. As far as they were concerned, this was going
to be only be a machine for recording and playing back experience,
not manipulating consciousness itself.
After announcing his success to his employers, they took him to
a lovely, expensive dinner to celebrate. Harvey became rather drunk,
yet despite his exhaustion and impairment, there was no way he was
going to put off what he had dreamed about for months. He would be
the first to reap the benefits of the Epiphany Machine. He went home
H O L Y S H I T !
44
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