The Perfect Life (3)

Mr. Joad took Ian to visit Dr. Xue. Unexpectedly, Dr. Xue refused to give Ian another DCR treatment.  “The number of neuronal connections is huge but still finite. Too many connections occupied by intellectual enhancement may limit or even suppress emotional development." He said solidly, "Ian is smart enough. I cannot let him take the risk."

Mr. Joad was not ready to give up: "I am only asking for a mild treatment that increases his intelligence in a limited manner. All he needs is a tiny increase in learning speed, so he can digest all the preoperative courses for admission on time ..."

Dr. Xue put on his poker face, "Are you crazy? I said no is no!" 

A young man standing by Dr. Xue suddenly whispered to Dr. Xue, "Professor, we need only one more case, just one, and we can publish this report to the top-tier journal with highest impact factor."

Dr. Xue cried out to the young man, "Are you a nutcase, too? I don't want to be tried by my consciousness for the rest of my life." He burst out toward Mr. Joad, "Leave now. Take your son home." As Mr. Joad turned back to door, he saw the young man winked to him. He walked out and close the door. He could only scratch his head, and his walk slowed down. Suddenly, he heard someone's calling from his back: "Dr. Joad, hold on, Dr. Joad!" The young man tried to catch them up.

"Dr. Joad, Ian is a very rare case; he is such a good match for DCR.", he said, "To be honest with you, DCR treatment did not have significant effect on most kids who received it." he said with somewhat embarrassed look, "I won't be able to graduate without results showing statistical significance. However, my loss would be nothing if compared to the would-be loss for million families. DCR might work only for a small number of kids. However, as long as it can enhance intelligence continuously and repetitively, imagine how this treatment can help the kids of average families, making them competitive?"  

Mr. Joad were quiet for a few minutes, and asked, "What might Ian become if the side effect is real?"

The young man responded, "Based on my model, this risk is neglectable. And..."

Mr. Joad suspected, "And what?"

"Dr. Xue used DCR on himself for several times. Do you feel anything wrong with him?" The young man said. 

Mr. Joad was thinking so kept himself quiet. The young man continued, "Currently, Ian is a volunteer in this trial. The following up and routine check up by our hospital are all free. When DCR is approved for clinical use, the treatment will charge. How many parents want to enhance the intelligence of their kids? Even you can afford the charge, how long would you need to wait in the waiting list? Think about that."

Mr. Joad's mood fell dark. In that evening, after dinner, he told his wife he would take Ian out for a walk. They spent quite long time outside and returned home late. She was a little suspicious. When she saw him resume writing after Ian went to bed, she thought he must be stressed out recently as the deadline to submit grant application was approaching. They did not talk more.

Ian kept to be the top student in schools. He received praise from teachers all the time, and were the focus in school. In the top middle school of the region, his learning proficiency was incomparable. He was the principal's favorite: "Our students, like Ian, are the most competitive nationwide."    

There were signs worrying the Joad parents. Ian spoke less and less over time, and never hung out with any friend. ‘Everything is just too easy for him,’ his mother thought, ‘that’s why he never shows enthusiasm in anything.’ ‘It is all because of his busy study schedule,’ his father argued. ‘It’s OK, when he goes to college, he will have social life.’ The admission for top-tier schools became more and more ridiculous at every level. Even for a real genius like Newton or Einstein, what could he or she really learn if there is a new test added into the courses everyday? How possible could this smart person make friends, even talk to peers?   

The Perfect Life (2)

Mr. Joad was serious: "Yes, and I have consulted Dr. Xue. You have to understand, DCR does not work everyone. It works best for young children. He went through Ian's physical exam record with me, and thought Ian would be a good fit. Moreover..."

"What's that?" his wife starred at him.

"Dr. Xue tried it on himself. My goodness, now he sounds like a genius. You know he never played poker, and I used to be the champion of college tournament. Yesterday I called for a game with him and two other friends, and all we three lost the last cent. Luckily we agree $50 for maximum bet. He said he did not find any side effect either on the animals in his study nor himself. The worst case was nothing happened."

His wife still worried about any possible risk. He used the trump card: "To prepare for the admission test of the top-tier elementary schools, do you know how much did those familes of students spend in their tutoring courses? Not unexpectedly, it was simply our annual income before tax."

The wife caved. He filled the online form to register Ian as a volunteer in Dr. Xue's clinical trial.

The procedure was quite straightforward: Ian received a painless injection of neurotrophic factors, and then put on a hamlet with many electrodes and wires connected to a machine. It took only a few minutes. Ian looked the same after returning home.

After a week, the kindergarten teacher excitedly reported that Ian made tramendous progress in every academic subject. He was still that lively and curious kid. Mrs. and Mr. Joad were a little amazed, a little suspicious. When they saw the report from the extracurricular courses, they started to believed. More than that, the teacher said that Ian picked up athletic moves so fast and easily. They were fully convinced. He let Ian try the simulating tests of the admission for top-tier elementary schools, his boy was doing well, even more competitive than those kids who received expensive training courses. 

At five years old, Ian passed the admission test and was going to one the of top lelmentary schools that most of the family could not afford. He was ecstatic and also got a relief, since his wife said she was glad he made the decision. The jealous friends and neighbors asked how Ian made it, the Joads answered proudly, "We just let Ian follow his passion."

Ian was doing well in school and received praises from teachers all the time. However, at the third grade, he had to start preparing for the admission of the top-tier middle school. The criteria were tougher and more rediculous- they included "Naturalist training", "Agriculture 101", "Understanding civil services", and so on. The trainng courses, for sure, charged the parents more. Even if the Joad family can afford it, Ian really could not find more time in his busy study schedule for these extra courses.

No more money could be squeezed from the pocket, and no more time could be squeezed from the study schedule. The only way to work this out was to squeeze more talent from Ian's young brain. 

    

The Perfect Life (1)

Mr. Joad read the online guide of admission for the top-tier elementary school. He wanted to cry but the tears would not come. His son, Ian, was going to be five years old after summer. At just at five years old, he would embrace the cruel competition.

In the era that people were fighting for scarce jobs left by robots and AI, only those having best education could get them. The criteria for the admission of top-tier schools became rediculous. They include presentation skills, international etiquette, music knowledge, leadership skills, craft design, sports (for sure), the third language, virtues, and so on. The admission committes claims the criteria were for recruting "leaders of the future, in every field". Every family he and his wife knew invested overwhelming amount of time and money in kids’ extracurricular courses for admission of these schools. Some rich families even hired Nobel Prize laureates and NCAA division I coaches to train their kids. When he heard that from the news, he nearly collapsed.

He was a faculty in university, and his wife was a senior staff in city government. They have nice double incomes. However, after paying mortgages, food, different kinds of insurances, and Ian's tuition fees, they could not possibly afford those expensive tutoring courses. However, he thought, I cannot let Ian down. I will try every way.

One day he came home whistling a funny tune. His wife was surprised, "You look happy! Do you get a promotion?"

Before dropping his briefcase, Mr. Joad turned on the wide screen on wall to show the information from his smart phone: "Have you heard of two-step dendritic connection reprogramming, DCR?"

She had her eyes wide open, "No. What's that?"

"Fifty years ago, a MIT professor applied a magnetic field to the right temporo-parietal junction of volunteers' brains, and that changed their moral judgments! The results stunned many people at that time. There was rumor that DoD was interested in using the technology for interrogation of war captives, but she refused. Since then the researches faded away time, and no one know where the professor ended up with." 

He continued, "Recently, Dr. Xue of the Neuroscience Center in my university resumed studies in this field. He developed an approach to modify neuronal connections in brain. Step 1 is to treat neurons with neurotrophic factor to induce their plasticity, followed by modification of specific connections using ultra-strong magnetic field as Step 2. He use functional imaging to track the change of neuronal connection. The results guided him to optimize the method to modify particular functions in the brain."   

"He tested this method on mice. These little guys passed through the maze ten fold faster than regular mice!"

His wife was quiet for a few more seconds, and then asked, "You mean they became smarter?"

Mr. Joad smiled, "Yes! Dr. Xue further tested DCR on cats and dogs, which enhanced their learning ability dramatically. He even tried it on monkeys..." He played a video, "they became able to comunicate with human by typing on computer! Isn't that amazing?"

He kep going, "Now Dr. Xue is recruting volunteers for clinical trials..."

"Are you going to let Ian try this? No way!" His wife was aghast.