Sunday 4 March 2012

Eleventh Entry: 'Case and the Dreamer' - Creationism, mutants and Mormon missionaries' mind altering experience

Case and the Dreamer: Volume XIII: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon - North Atlantic books, Berkeley, California, 2010 - p.117

The most exciting thing that ever happened to Harry (aside from rheumatic fever and Susan) was the evening he spent with Timothy Leary.  After that - well, you'll judge for yourself, but before, things had been pretty quiet for Harry.
    Dr. Leary came swinging into Woodstock, New York, bringing with him two younger men, Metzner and Alpert, with shiny shoes, pants with creases, and sharing a professorial rather humorless air.  They reminded Harry of divinity students, straight-spined, quick-minded, with his charisma and his resonant voice; Leary was something else again.
    He used words like "psychotomimetic" and a brand-new one, "psychedelic," and fielded questions like "If I knocked and the door was opened by a man who had taken LSD, what would you look like?"and "Is it addictive?" openly and immediately, all of which interested Harry quite a lot, but it wasn't until afterward, at the Cafe Espresso across the street, that Harry achieved the highest-yet peak of excitement.
    Over cappuccino, Dr. Leary held forth about mutations.  "There are three kinds of mutations, " said Leary.  "Lethal ones, and you can mostly forget about them.  They cause stillbirths, and when they don't, the young seldom survive, and when they do, they seldom reproduce - they're mules, they just don't live long enough to mate.  Then there is the beneficial mutation - saying a herd animal, when one is born with longer and stronger legs.  This one gets away from the predators better than any of the others, and passes the strain on.  The descendants thrive, and in a few, or a dozen generations, you'll find a whole herd with the new legs.
    "But there's a third kind of mutation.  It's the one that just means...

"...bringing with him two younger men, Metzner and Alpert, with shiny shoes, pants with creases, and sharing a professorial rather humorless air.  They reminded Harry of divinity students..."

They are sometimes a nuisance, they can incite bitter ire and to some they deliver word of salvation.  


Most people are content to close the door with varying degrees of abruptness, but in 1999 a couple of guys in Melbourne, Australia, invited two Mormon door-knockers into their home for an enlightened discussion over refreshment and biscuits.  After their visit, the boys weren't feeling well, so admitted themselves to hospital.  The diagnosis?  Stoned.  The charming hosts had fed them a freshly baked batch of hash cookies and somehow managed to keep a straight face.

"There are three kinds of mutations."

This statement is broadly supported by film, comic and television industries.  The three main type of mutants and mutations are characterised by:

The X-Men


To quote Professor X from the first X-men film: "Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward."  So the ability to shoot lasers, move metal, talk to machines, control the weather, turn into ice-cream,  and read minds, is an innate, evolutionary step taking place across mankind.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles


A chemical, aptly named 'mutagen', becomes responsible for turtle, rat, rhinoceros, warthog, fly, wolf, snap turtle/human hybrids.  Martial arts, sewer living, junk-food diets, talking brains and words like 'radical' ensue.

The Toxic Avenger & Fallout 3 bad guys













Radiation, known for its real-world cancer giving properties, increases strength, size, anger, heroism or villainousness.

"The descendants thrive, and in a few, or a dozen generations, you'll find a whole herd with the new legs."

Just one of the reasons I'm glad to be Australian is that we are amongst the least religious Western states.  Here, there is no ridiculous argument about the introduction of Creationism into high school science classes.  We do, however, allow the teaching of religion by non-qualified personnel (ie: church volunteers) in state primary schools, but I'm sure that I'll be serendipitously guided to that subject in a future reading.
    Creationism is not a branch of scientific study; it's a system of belief predicated on an archaic text, based solely on faith, not facts.  Science is based on observation, experimentation and research; it seeks to provide answers with tangible answers and is therefore objective - facts after all being facts.  Creationism is subjective. A choice that subscribes to a faith-based doctrine that is limited only to different interpretations of the Bible.
    Schools are places where minds are informed and broadened, a formative space where a student can, through the acquisition of knowledge, learn about the world and determine their own opinions.  They should not be places of religious inculcation and proselytisation.  Give the student a chance to engage their world with facts not fantastical preachings and if they want to believe in intelligent design as opposed to evolution, then that is their choice - but it has been made with a comprehensive knowledge, which in turn gives that choice much greater licence.

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