The beginnings of something new: The Spark
Love conquers all things; let us too surrender to Love.
Virgil,
All my life I have been fascinated with perceptions and how they are formed: the difference between political views, sciences and how each person chooses one idea over another. Perhaps the interest is a result from a deeper seated interest; an interest in questions that lead to other questions; an inner curiosity. So I took that interest in questions and combined it with the perception that true love solves all.
I asked myself: Assuming that soul mates, true love, does exist: what would society be like if everyone found their soul mate? What would be the societal implications of a scientifically induced finding of that soul mate? I named the phenomenon the “spark”. Thus, a novel began. In the world of the novel, everyone finds their soulmates and the majority agrees that true love “conquers all”; however, not necessarily in a speedy or efficient way. Hence, the government institutes a mandatory medicine or surgery with the idea that if everyone finds their true love quickly, overall standard of living would improve. They designed a medicine to increase dopamine levels in the brain more than usual, even more than it would normally be if the person was attracted to someone, in the presence of their soul mate. The surgery, on the other hand, involved the addition of a gene (much like scientists have done with voles today).
Instead of reducing humanities problems, this medicine introduces a new strain. Gossiping over who will “spark” with whom; rebels who try to manipulate the medicine, soon the government introduces meetings, to increase opportunity; however, all must be disguised to combat a placebo effect present in the new medicine. Those that cannot afford the technology for a proper disguise are exempt, the re-formation of a social hierarchy begins and the customs remain even after scientists discover ways to reduce the placebo effect (making disguises irrelevant). These meeting become a place for the rich and a breeding ground for secrets. Society becomes progressively more broken but progress in other, more important, areas wane.
At, the beginning of the novel, I had a clear vision of the affects of the medicine on society. As I progressed, however, new questions revealed themselves. Assuming that the people became content and withdrew from the social hierarchy at some point, would this inhibit progress? Is progress the result of our discontent? And would this mean that the social hierarchy and elitism follow a cycle? Assuming the sparking was not controlled, would their soul mate bring wisdom and would that wisdom jump start progress? Would discrimination based on sexual orientation decrease because everyone accepted that each person has a ‘soul mate’? Perhaps, this seems a bit unconventional but this is precisely what I love to do: ask questions and wrestle with the many directions that humanity could go.