THE prohibitionist society was long since overwhelmed by the desire for intoxication. There was a time when hedonistic pursuits were classified as unnatural and born of human weakness. Only qualified elite could distribute those chemicals deemed legitimate. History, of course, washes these periods cleaner but the fine line between prescribed and illegal was quite often determined by larger factors than the potential benefits to a suffering individual. Over time though, human weakness overcame human strength and freedom of choice prevailed.
The first big step, brought from off-world where the laws were weaker*, was Dreamstate™, which came in various strengths and dissipation rates. Dreamstate™ granted the taker a moment of peace and contentment.
The perfect drug paved the way for a more permanent solution to mental unease. Thus the Nirvana Now™ treatment hit the market, which was then quickly followed by the more successful Chocolate Human**.
It is an antiquated idea (so we should naturally remain suspicious) that happiness and, conversely, depression is merely a shifting chemical state that is regulated, agonized, inhibited, blocked, intensified and amplified into a delicate balance of dopamine, serotonin, endorphins and other chemicals – the end result being our ‘mood.’ Once you add to that the brain’s endogenous bank of opiates, cannaboids and amphetamines, any emotional or mental state can be induced.
To ‘attain nirvana,’ as the advertisements proclaimed, a subject needed only a minor implantation to allow manual control over the body’s natural processes. The subject can then live out their life in euphoria, travel between various altered states, or use it only on social occasions – it’s up to the end-user.
It may be my age speaking but it seems akin to madness to be able to switch between moods willynilly and I can only assume that not enduring the inherent suffering of life and the pains of mortality would create a weak and insipid creature, though it would be hard to tell as they rarely dip out of nirvana with anything worth hearing. And yet, maybe that will be the new way. Lives are longer, nobody is starving and we could soon be immortal if the Emulators*** are ever successful. What need is there now for pain?
I am reminded of a quote by the ancient, Voltaire.
Happiness is an illusion, only suffering is real.
Why am I so encumbered by this traditional concept? For every point of view a supporting adage can be found, as if such appropriation could make an idea infallible? Or that mere repetition equates to truth? How many of our founding ideas are based on historical ballast rather than actual evidence?
Plate 35: Sergeant Garcia, veteran of the Epsilon territory clash, convicted of humanitarian violations. After replacing his legs with a long-stay nirvana-can on a neu-wheel****, he now lives in a permanent state of Chocolate.
PROLONGED use of the Nirvana Now™ or Chocolate treatments could result
in what is variously referred to as ‘Paradise Sickness’ or ‘Stimulation
Disability’ (Plate 36). Sufferers prick or in some way inflict pain on
themselves, perhaps either to receive a surge in reactive stimulation
or to break a hypothetical numbness created by a brain-chemical
re-alignment.
* Legality seems linked to enforceability. Once bans on drugs became unenforceable the laws were lifted. I believe this is so as not to weaken remaining laws.
** For the chocolate-lovers, inducing the effects of chocolate eating up to a hundredfold.
*** A ‘copying’ of a human mind (memories, personality and hopefully soul) into a tactile-sense machine.
**** At last! Someone finally reinvented the wheel.
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