The Natural History of Fear

“There, there. It’s alright. It’s alright. It’s for your own good. The state loves you. It loves you. Take a breath. That’s right. A deep breath. There. Now say goodbye to everything you ever knew.”

“I love the State. I venerate the Regime. I love the State. I venerate the Regime. I love the State. I venerate the Regime. Why are you doing this to me?”

“This is the voice of Light City. Welcome to your new work day. Today is High Productivity Day. Your state loves you. Happiness through acceptance.”

EDITOR: We are a species predated from cradle to grave. From our waking thoughts to our

sleeping dreams, there is no escape.

CONSCIENCE 2: I don't

EDITOR: Every person alive today is a battleground. A war is being fought in our head every

moment we exist. A conflict so violent it can destroy individuals and nations alike, yet one

fought with weapons possessing no weight or mass, no moment of inertia, no quantifiable

physical presence whatsoever.

CONSCIENCE 2: What?

EDITOR: Even ideas have a natural history, evolutionary trends, passive and aggressive

species. I'm talking about predatory concepts, ideas that attack and engulf, direct the actions

of the host mind, spread by simple contact through language and movement, consuming and

converting social and ethnic groups, even entire species, in the name of survival, of progress.

CONSCIENCE 2: That's

EDITOR: An example. You and I, talking together about the idea I have. An equal exchange,

you might think. You might even think you can choose whether to believe me or not. I'm

exposing you, infecting you. The concept is in control. I am merely its vector. Your only

protection is how stupid you are. The problem is that stupid people make mistakes, and die.

Evolution deselects them for survival, which only leaves intelligent people. And intelligent

people, people who understand things more readily and are more flexible, are, by definition,

more susceptible to infection by new ideas.

CONSCIENCE 2: I feel. Oh, that sound. What?

EDITOR: By keeping the people stupid, you prevent the spread of infectious ideas. The State

has kept us stupid. You, me, everyone, for generations. We're living in a box, quarantined,

prisoners of an endless today, isolated from infection by tomorrow. When a humming top is

at the acme of its gyration it becomes so steady and quiet that it doesn't seem to move. In this

state, it is said to sleep. Dormir comme un sabot. Everyone alive today in Light City is asleep.

Everyone except you and me. Toys, people, everything is reclaimed, revised, a closed loop

endlessly repeating. If it were a mind, the State would be in fugue, psychological retreat,

endlessly fleeing the predator future. Break the cycle. Break open the box. Infection, ideas, change. Things begin again.