Stemistry lab

The Stetford egg

As Edward Wilcox stood down from the podium of the 20/50 Summit to a terrific round of applause he had good reason to feel satisfied - he knew he had managed to pull off a coup of monumental proportions. The world, it could be said, was on the brink of a new age of reason and enlightenment – Utopia was achievable, in time of course and science and technology had made it possible, but not probable. That is until Edward Wilcox had managed to convince his colleagues to back his hypothesis - that the key to physical perfection lay in the control of intellectual perfection. Once there was control of the mind – there was control of the body. It was such a simple idea, which owed its success to the re-programming of harvested human eggs, that were then fertilised with perfectly altered sperm. No more random coupling allowed – either by natural or traditional interventional methods. The world’s population was out of control and the suggestion of a cull, as seemed acceptable with other species, had been abandoned - far better to control conception, but by much more radical methods than had ever been imagined before. Desperate times did indeed need desperate measures.

And today Edward had been given the opportunity to talk to world leaders of his proposal. There was sound empirical data of course to prove that the human population could be controlled, but more than anything else a radical cultural change was needed. He proposed that the natural, biological ability to breed be removed from the human species. Prospective breeders would have to agree to technical implantation with a perfect embryo and they would also have to agree to what Edward called the Alpha-Beta Balance - the balance between an embryo programmed with a high intellect, and an embryo programmed with practical skills. He was certain that the prospect of children with no physical, emotional or behavioural problems would be as attractive and acceptable to parents as to the politicians, who had embraced Edward’s proposal with unexpected enthusiasm. The promise of a docile, compliant and controlled populace was just too seductive for them to say no to. They could forward plan their revenue budgets far in advance. Education would still be a big expenditure but health care would hardly be an issue – accidents excepted of course, and there would be no need for a police force or standing army. A future with the promise of no pressure on food supplies or housing, where everyone had a more than adequate amount of leisure time was something they could now actually promise the electorate - and significantly, the third world would be able to catch up, (but they didn’t really have a choice). Edward had included a vague reference here to withdrawal of aid for non-compliance.

As might have been expected there was a flurry of resistance from the Church, but Edward had anticipated this, and as he pointed out, this Utopia of perfect harmony would result in the banishment of evil which was surely the ultimate aim of the Church too. And of course there was still the question of the soul for the Church to ponder – everyone was still going to be human after all.