Harry Benson suffers from psychomotor epilepsy, a condition that triggers violent, uncontrollable seizures. To cure him, surgeons at University Hospital implant an experimental prototype into his brain: forty electrodes connected to a miniature computer that monitors his neural activity. When the computer detects an oncoming seizure, it delivers an electrical shock to the brain’s pleasure centers to abort the attack. However, Benson’s brain begins to crave the stimulation, intentionally initiating more frequent seizures to receive the rewarding pulse. This positive feedback loop causes a total psychological break, sending Benson into a murderous rampage through the hospital corridors as he flees his doctors.
Technologists and science fiction fans read this novel to observe the collision of biomedical engineering and human behavior. It attracts those interested in the ethics of neural interfaces and the unpredictable consequences of automated medical interventions. The reader learns how the biological brain can manipulate artificial logic to satisfy its own dependencies. The story provides a stark technical warning about the dangers of treating the mind as a machine that can be programmed or controlled without causing systemic failure.
Escapist; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Escapist Adventurer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1972
- Language
- EN
