clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org

THE GODS OF HYPERSPACE 153
You take a breath. "But sir, even if we could build a working spherical
retina, our minds would be unable to interpret the information. It would
be like giving sight to a man blind from birth."
"You are right. But if we raise our children from birth with these retinas,
their minds will adapt. With the aid of the Omegamorphs, the children
will experience the fourth dimension."
Narcinko simply listens, folds his arms, inscrutable, except for the
slight tremor of his eyebrows.
Sally shakes her head. "Sir, you're not suggesting we take out children's
eyes and replace them with these?"
"Possibly, although we may be able to attach the new eyes to the optic
nerves while leaving their original eyes in place. Possibly we could place 3-D
retinas inside their current eyes, but that may limit the children. If they
kept both old and new eyes, the children could flip switches to determine
which eyes they want, but I doubt they would choose their more limited
organs. They might want to remove their original eyes forever."
"That's sick," Sally says. "It would be morally indefensible. There are
parallels in the cases of deaf children who can be fitted with artificial hearing
organs, but such things are opposed by many in the deaf community."
"The beings will pull the children upsilon into their world and eventually
teach the children how they can best use their new eyes. It would
be unethical not to give children the new retinas." The president pauses.
"If a child were born with eyes that saw no colors, wouldn't it be cruel to
withhold treatment that allowed them to see color?"
Sally puts her hands on her hips. "That's not the same."
The president shakes his head. "We've no right to deny our species
access to higher universes. This is the next step in humanity's evolution.
Think of the new philosophies and ideas we would develop. This would
be a boon to humankind. The procedure of implanting 3-D retinas will
not cause the children pain. The children will still be human: they will
still love their parents. They will play with friends. They'll just see more
of reality."
Narcinko grins. "We could use them as all-seeing superspies."
Sally shakes her head and looks at the president. "I hope you're not
thinking of this from a national security standpoint and using these kids
as superspies."
The president takes a deep breath. "There may be the temptation, but
I'll make sure laws are passed to respect the children's privacy, to make