Antiphon

by B. L. Roberts

  His personal resources might be significant, but not on a world scale. Whatever he decided, had to be focused, and deal with root causes. Frederik began attempting to analyse what lay behind the turmoil so much of the world appeared to be embroiled in, looking for a window of opportunity, where he could do something.

  When his family returned from Africa, he began the process of easing himself out of his daily routines, but his mind kept worrying, What next? Just what was it that was eating at him? Was it guilt for his parents? Did he yet want to punish those responsible? Or himself? In his heart he knew he did; he could never forgive that crime. He reflected on his reaction when first learning of his parents murder, a combination of shock, horror, revulsion at the way they had died, but overwhelmingly, a feeling of hatred and anger towards the perpetrators, emotions that were normally foreign to his nature.

  As his mind cooled, and he could think rationally about their deaths, he was realistic enough to know that, merely wreaking vengeance on the ignorant natives who had committed the crime, was pointless. It would accomplish nothing, except perhaps perpetuate the violence these people lived by, give their compatriots the excuse for yet more killing. He wanted better than that.

  He wanted to make a real difference, cause change to happen, that would somehow put an end to the violence. More violence, was never the answer to violence, Gandhi had shown that, and Jesus Christ before him.

  No, change had to be fundamental, cultural. He had to look behind the violence, what was its root cause. Was it poverty, the lack of education? On its own, he did not think merely being poor and uneducated, lead to violence. Some of the happiest people he had encountered, had been among the poorest and least educated. Some of the better educated, had turned to violence. Look at Germany in both world wars! The current spate of wars! Education was important, but it was not, of itself, the answer.

  There was a common thread, and Frederik eventually recognised it. It was so obvious he should have identified it sooner. The problem, he deduced, simply, was pressure! People who lived under pressure, had problems. Being poor, taken on its own, did not mean people were prompted to fight one another. What caused tensions between people, tensions that could lead to conflict, was pressure.

  Germany had turned to war, because of pressure. Japan had joined in world war two for the same reason. China was now looking to be stirring up trouble in the world, again over pressure. And that pressure, he concluded, when boiled down, was uncertainty over resources. Scrabbling to have enough land, enough space to live, enough means of providing for families, both for now and for the future, not having sufficient resources, that brought pressure. People fought each other, for the right to exist! Governments went to war to protect their countries resources, or to attempt to steal from others. That is, those governments that were genuinely trying to look after their populations, and not fighting over some stupid idealogical, superstitious interpretation of a scripture.

  To have space, and the wherewithal to live, that was the common thread. Where people enjoyed a good life, with adequate food and shelter, then politics and politicians became less important, peace prevailed, and there was no pressure for change. Frederik came to the conclusion, there was simply too many people in the world for the resources available. It was a problem getting worse at an alarming rate, and the pressure it placed on people and governments, made conflict inevitable. Frederik began to research the problem.

  Overpopulation, and the pressure this placed on communities and governments to find sufficient resources, was overwhelming the planet. Everywhere Frederik looked, native species were disappearing, becoming extinct, at an alarming rate, land was being cleared of forests to make way for farming and houses, and whole populations regularly experienced food shortages, often leading to starvation. There were too many people for what was available, too many people for space to live, and thrive. The world was being overworked.

  What could he do, that would have any practical effect on this problem? It was too huge. The words of his father resonated deep in his brain. “When you leave a place, it should be better than when you arrived.” Frederik wanted the world to be a better place than he had found it. There had to be a way, surely, he just had to find it.

  Frederik’s research led him to some surprising enlightenment. The United Nations Environment Programme posited, that by 2050, “it would take three worlds to service the world’s population, which, at present growth levels, would, by then, total 9.6 billion.”

  This caused Frederik to sit back. He could only imagine what this would means in terms of human suffering, starvation, and conflict. Fighting for resources to survive? It painted a grim picture. What was his generation creating, for future generations to deal with? Already there were not enough resources, and the present human population was devouring what was left at such a rate, before long there would be nothing left, no more forests to cut down, no more wild animals, no more space to have freedom to stretch one’s legs. There were simply too many places with too many people, and the problem was exploding.

  China, with its huge population, was already flexing its considerable muscles, to grab a bigger share of what the world had available, and indicated it was prepared to fight, where necessary, to take from other countries what it needed for its own people. War was threatening, and war, thought Frederik, was hideous. Inevitably, it meant destruction of property, slaughter of people, and it was usually the innocents who paid the highest price, the non-combatant women and children who would be killed. War did reduce populations, but at what price? Was war the only answer? Allow war, killing, as a means to keep a lid on the world’s population?

  It was a horrible thought, but maybe, was the vulturous armaments industry, in the end, doing the world an ultimate favour? Was supplying the wherewithal, so people could kill each other off more efficiently, a solution? Should he spend some of his fortune furnishing weapons to the various groups and tribes around the world, so they would be more efficient at killing each other? Perhaps help them establish factories, to manufacture their own weapons?

  He laughed at the absurdity. It was preposterous, that would not make the world better. There surely had to be a way, but not that! If the world failed to rein in its burgeoning population, stop the avalanche of babies, no government on the planet would be able to adequately provide for its people. A balance needed to be struck, between a country’s population, and its resources. Somehow, the world’s population had to be brought under control.

  That, thought Frederik, would be the gold class solution to bring about a peaceful world, a better world. The idea, at first a seed germinating in his mind and troubling him, became a root, and once the root had struck, it began to slowly grow. Finding a way to reduce the world’s population, became something of an obsession that Frederik found himself frequently stewing over.

  It was something that needed to be done, urgently, that seemed self evident, but nowhere were governments even considering it for serious discussion. Was it possible? Could anything be done?

  9

  A possible answer came out of the blue, surprisingly, at the conclusion of an after- dinner speech. It came in a casual throw away comment, and was made by a former Harvard graduate, now a world recognised geneticist, Professor Lee Miu Wong.

  Frederik had responded, on the spur of the moment, to an invitation from his old friend Gerry Henderson, to attend a Harvard reunion dinner where the professor was listed as the after dinner speaker. Frederik was glad to catch up with Gerry, and some other of his friends from his Harvard days. He was now listed as one of the university’s great success stories, another billionaire produced by that august establishment, which made him something of a celebrity, but it was a fame he would rather do without.

  Frederik was often approached by would be entrepreneurs, tempting him to invest in “can’t fail” ventures, and he avoided public gatherings where possible, but the Harvard reunion would not be like that.
Those at the dinner would be the successful ones, the ones with money, who had made it, the rich and the famous, and while he might be among the wealthiest present, there would not be too much envy.

  The dinner proved excellent, and Frederik enjoyed catching up with several of his old alumni. The food all eaten and dishes cleared, the slightly inebriated gathering sat back, prepared to be a little bored by what the Chinese professor had to say. Genetics was not something Frederik was familiar with, but he resolved he might as well try to learn something.

  Wong, it turned out, had studied at Harvard under the renowned Professor, Mario Capeechi. Professor Capeechi’s famous discovery, working with gene research, had lead him to develop the “knockout mice”. In the scientific world, he was a hero.

  Capeechi had received the Nobel prize for medicine, back in 2007, for that work. That initial research, had recently developed into CRISPR, the gene-editing tool, that enabled genes to be removed, altered, and re-inserted into patients. It was, according to the professor, incredible stuff.

  As Professor Wong explained to his genetically largely illiterate audience, Capeechi had shown the way to produce a mouse with a gene removed, or knocked out, and the implications for future medical research flowing from that seemingly simple discovery, were enormous. As Professor Wong elaborated, faulty genes were the cause of numerous human diseases and health problems. Identify a gene, and knock it out, remove it from the genome of a person, and the problems it might cause would go away, not only for that individual, and this was the significant part, but also for later offspring, who otherwise would inherit the bad gene. Offspring would be born, bad-gene free.

  Genes controlled everything in the human body, dictated what the body would or could do, and when to do it, and when genes went haywire, serious consequences followed. Finding a way to remove a single gene, was one of the momentous discoveries of medicine.

  “Without the appropriate gene kicking in when it did, none of you would be here tonight,” the professor had said.

  Frederik had been mildly interested up to that point, but that statement clicked something in his head, and his brain began to race. Suddenly he was all ears! If a gene didn’t kick in, consequences would not follow? If you could knock out the baby gene in humans so it didn’t kick in, did that mean there would be no baby? Was it possible? How would it work? Would it mean infertility? How simple would that be, to bring populations under control, if women had their reproductive gene knocked out, and they became infertile?

  Frederik resolved to have a further talk with the learned professor, and at the conclusion of the meeting, waited his opportunity to button-hole him. The answers professor Wong proffered to his questions, led to a further meeting the next day at the professor’s hotel. Wong was returning home later that day, and time was restricted, but Frederik had enough of it to formulate an approach he thought might interest the professor.

  “I am fascinated by your work, and what you have achieved with gene research. I would like to learn more if possible. Could you spare me some time please?”

  Before accepting the request for the meeting, Wong had asked a couple of discreet questions about who was this man with the slight European accent, who wanted to talk to him, and the one thing that immediately sparked his attention, was being told “He’s filthy rich. Sorensen would have to be among the richest men in the world. If he wants to talk, I think I would be wanting to hear what he has to say.”

  Hearing those magic words, was like pouring soothing oil on chaffed skin for the professor. Wong had spent the last six months canvassing sponsors, desperately trying to obtain funding for a tranch of research he wanted his laboratory to undertake. It was vital research to further his work, and the reason he had accepted the invitation to Harvard. The research required elaborate new microscopes and spectrometers, would be extremely costly, and his overtures for finance had, to date, been either flatly rejected, or politely deferred.

  “What is the practical application of all this? How can it make money?”

  Investors wanted him to explain how the research could be turned into something marketable, something that would give the sponsor a return on investment, and it was at that point, the interest of his donors evaporated into smoke. Wong could offer none. The research would lead to a greater understanding of the interaction of genes and the body, surely they could see that, but where it might lead as a business, he had no idea.

  Respect for the professor kept their conversations courteous, but Wong recognised, unless benefactors could see commercial benefits flowing from their investment, they were not interested.

  Perhaps this wealthy Swedish man might be different. At their later meeting, Wong outlined what he wanted to investigate.

  “It is actually pure research at this time. Hopefully, it will lead to a much better understanding of the interaction of genes within the human genome, how one gene affects others. It is difficult to say just what will come from it, where it might lead, but I believe it may be possible to find better ways to manipulate genes, change them, to alter the way they work, not just knock them out. We just have to find out how.”

  Wong hoped his visitor could comprehend the significance of what he was trying to explain, but he needed not have been concerned. Frederik understood perfectly. It was music to his ears. He questioned the professor at length about his existing laboratory set up, his staff, and their level of expertise. He surprised the professor, by asking searching questions about the shortcomings of the team he had working under him, and his equipment.

  “Of course I would like to hire more researchers, there are many bright and clever people out there I would love to have working with me, but it gets down to money. Top level researchers have to be paid, and have security of tenure, and without guaranteed ongoing financial backing, I am very limited.”

  Sorensen also asked probing questions about the arrangements Wong had with the university housing his laboratory, and was surprised how limited were the resources available to the professor. After a few more questions, he took his leave, asking for Wong’s business card.

  “You have given me much to think about. May I call you to discuss it further?”

  Wong’s spirits fell. His words had fallen on deaf ears, Sorensen was walking away, there would be no money forthcoming from this man. This response usually meant the brush off, polite of course, but he would never hear from him again. His Chinese culture, and innate politeness, would not allow any negative expression to show on his face.

  “Of course, I would be delighted to talk further.”

  Wong sighed. The work he was doing was so important to the world, if only those who could provide the wherewithal to keep it going, could comprehend it. All they thought about, was making money. Always, more money. So much needed to be done to make life better, and his work could be playing a big part of it. He sighed again, and returned to packing his small bag, ready for the flight home.

  Lounging back in his big armchair in the Gulfstream on his home flight, a thoughtful Frederik Sorensen mulled over what he understood of the professor’s work. He began writing his thoughts down, in cryptic sentences. By the time the plane touched down in Stockholm, he had filled several pages.

  Every available minute for the next two weeks was spent glued to his computer, or on the phone. His secretary, used to her boss’s obsessive behaviour when he became embroiled in researching a project, had never seen him quite this intense. She wondered at his calls. Usually, Frederik would be speaking to economists, financiers, accountants, lawyers, developers, politicians, but this time he was calling up universities, hospitals, academics whose names she had never heard mentioned before, and she was hard pressed to find some of the people he wanted to converse with.

  Page after page of scribbled notes accumulated on his desk, to be shuffled into some sort of order, and fastened with little clips. Then he instructed his secretary he was unavailable to anyone,
except family, for the next few days, shut himself in his office, and began poring though his notes, and making yet more notes. Finally, he picked up Professor Wong’s card.

  “It’s Frederik Sorensen here, professor, do you remember me?”

  Wong did remember him, very well. The wealthy Swede who had listened so politely, asked questions, and said he would think about it. He was ringing back! Could this mean new hope for his research? Wong became so excited when he realised who was on the phone, his hand shook. He could not believe his ears.

  “You must be too busy, perhaps I could come to you”, he had said, but his caller had insisted.

  “No, no, you are the one who is busy. I will come to you.”

  So it was, two days later, he welcomed Frederik Sorensen into his office, and closed the door.

  10

  Professor Wong settled back into his chair, stared briefly at the ceiling of his office, then closed his eyes. His head swam with what had just been laid out for him by the tall Swede. It was an outrageous idea, not only implausible, but also, seemingly totally impossible! His research had never contemplated what the Swede was suggesting, it went far beyond what he had even thought about, deep into unknown territory. Yes, it was impossible, a mad dream, and he had said so. The Swede had shown disappointment at his response.

  Wong’s mind flashed down avenues of research that this idea might lead to, and came up against a blank wall. He had listened intently to what the billionaire from Sweden had outlined, asking questions to make sure he fully understood what was being proposed, then sat back in a state of slight shock, as the implications began to be understood.