his own jumpiness.
The small strip grafted just below the skin on the inside of his wrist flashed and purred softly. The band was a standard receiving-insert and when he rubbed his thumb over the blinking light a neural link was activated behind his ear, where the cellular communication device was implanted. This in turn allowed a connection to similar implants in other humans or other devices such as computers or cellular phones.
The implants had been introduced over a decade ago in the early 2020s and had been assimilated eagerly by a society hungry for advancement in all areas of technology. A massive publicity campaign was mobilized to assure the public that the advantages outweighed any possible adverse reactions to the interfaces. Potential advances in education, information protection, leisure pursuits, and health were cited as major pluses. However, not everyone was as enthusiastic about the coupling of the human brain with machines. Many people, especially in religious quarters, viewed the procedures as unholy or evidence of mankind’s manipulation by demonic agencies. They abhorred the readiness with which humanity allowed itself to be tagged like pets, in what they interpreted as an exercise in mass control, thinly disguised as gadgetry.
Robert had no such misgivings in becoming a ‘web head’ though. He believed it was an inevitable cog in the machinery of progression and his profession had caused him to embrace the applications. As a physiologist specializing in cybernetic organisms, he worked closely with victims of trauma who had received various implants. His particular field was studying the effects the implants had on human behavior, cognition and higher brain functions such as perception and the changes that occurred therein.
Conversely, Robert’s wife, Alex, loathed the cellular communication implants (CCIs) and she admonished Robert regularly for his use of one. Now the delicate pathways that merged the CCI and his brain waves in an organic, electronic fusion made him aware that Alex was contacting him. The intricacies of the cybernetic network’s interplay with the human brain were still not fully comprehended, even by Robert. It was precisely this vagueness that the non-conformists feared. Alex and Jake were due to travel to Babel today from their old house with the last of their personal possessions. Robert spoke to Alex whilst still scrutinizing the steel door. ‘Hi honey, what’s up?’
‘Hello sweetheart, you at the mad house?’
‘It’s not a mad house, it’s an institute, and yes, I’m there.’
‘No it’s a nut house and you’re its first inmate, honey!’ and she laughed out loud. ‘And I suppose I’m talking to you through that microwave oven in your head, yeah?’
‘If you mean my CCI, yes you are.’
‘I bought you a state of the art cellular phone Robert, why don’t you use it? Why don’t you have the implant reversed? If God had wanted us to communicate like that we would have been born with telephones sticking out of our ears.’
‘That’s like saying, why don’t you use the state of the art bicycle I bought you to get around, instead of the car you own!’
‘Yes, but that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea, would it?’
‘Well, we can’t all be perfect specimens of fitness and health, like you, Alex!’
‘Hmm,’ she mused. ‘I don’t recall you rejecting my perfect specimens last night, lover!’
Robert traced his thumb across his wrist again and a holographic image projected from his eye to hang suspended in the air, eight inches in front of his face. There was his wife Alex’s face, slightly shimmering with the connection but unmistakably beautiful and Robert instinctively reached out to touch the representation.
‘Hello honey!’ and the image of Alex gave a little wave. ‘Me and Jake are setting off now. We’ll be at the house in about four hours. You gonna be home tonight? I got chicken, fresh vegetables and a bottle of
The small strip grafted just below the skin on the inside of his wrist flashed and purred softly. The band was a standard receiving-insert and when he rubbed his thumb over the blinking light a neural link was activated behind his ear, where the cellular communication device was implanted. This in turn allowed a connection to similar implants in other humans or other devices such as computers or cellular phones.
The implants had been introduced over a decade ago in the early 2020s and had been assimilated eagerly by a society hungry for advancement in all areas of technology. A massive publicity campaign was mobilized to assure the public that the advantages outweighed any possible adverse reactions to the interfaces. Potential advances in education, information protection, leisure pursuits, and health were cited as major pluses. However, not everyone was as enthusiastic about the coupling of the human brain with machines. Many people, especially in religious quarters, viewed the procedures as unholy or evidence of mankind’s manipulation by demonic agencies. They abhorred the readiness with which humanity allowed itself to be tagged like pets, in what they interpreted as an exercise in mass control, thinly disguised as gadgetry.
Robert had no such misgivings in becoming a ‘web head’ though. He believed it was an inevitable cog in the machinery of progression and his profession had caused him to embrace the applications. As a physiologist specializing in cybernetic organisms, he worked closely with victims of trauma who had received various implants. His particular field was studying the effects the implants had on human behavior, cognition and higher brain functions such as perception and the changes that occurred therein.
Conversely, Robert’s wife, Alex, loathed the cellular communication implants (CCIs) and she admonished Robert regularly for his use of one. Now the delicate pathways that merged the CCI and his brain waves in an organic, electronic fusion made him aware that Alex was contacting him. The intricacies of the cybernetic network’s interplay with the human brain were still not fully comprehended, even by Robert. It was precisely this vagueness that the non-conformists feared. Alex and Jake were due to travel to Babel today from their old house with the last of their personal possessions. Robert spoke to Alex whilst still scrutinizing the steel door. ‘Hi honey, what’s up?’
‘Hello sweetheart, you at the mad house?’
‘It’s not a mad house, it’s an institute, and yes, I’m there.’
‘No it’s a nut house and you’re its first inmate, honey!’ and she laughed out loud. ‘And I suppose I’m talking to you through that microwave oven in your head, yeah?’
‘If you mean my CCI, yes you are.’
‘I bought you a state of the art cellular phone Robert, why don’t you use it? Why don’t you have the implant reversed? If God had wanted us to communicate like that we would have been born with telephones sticking out of our ears.’
‘That’s like saying, why don’t you use the state of the art bicycle I bought you to get around, instead of the car you own!’
‘Yes, but that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea, would it?’
‘Well, we can’t all be perfect specimens of fitness and health, like you, Alex!’
‘Hmm,’ she mused. ‘I don’t recall you rejecting my perfect specimens last night, lover!’
Robert traced his thumb across his wrist again and a holographic image projected from his eye to hang suspended in the air, eight inches in front of his face. There was his wife Alex’s face, slightly shimmering with the connection but unmistakably beautiful and Robert instinctively reached out to touch the representation.
‘Hello honey!’ and the image of Alex gave a little wave. ‘Me and Jake are setting off now. We’ll be at the house in about four hours. You gonna be home tonight? I got chicken, fresh vegetables and a bottle of
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