The Reality Thief (Deplosion Book 1)

by Paul Anlee

  “But a supernatural soul would still need to interact with biological matter, no? With cells made of molecules, those molecules consisting of atoms, those atoms formed from the various sub-atomic particles, and all behaving according to the laws of nature?”

  “Of course.”

  “And how, exactly, would it do that?”

  “I don’t know. It’s supernatural.”

  Darian’s entire body bobbed eagerly. “Yes, this is the crux of the problem. The known particles of physics interact with each other in well-understood ways. For example, electromagnetic forces are carried by photons passing between particles such as electrons—”

  “Well, you and Dr. Wong would be the experts on the various particles and forces but, yes, that is also my understanding.”

  “And a supernatural soul—if it doesn’t interact with the brain in any conventional manner—would still need some kind of mechanism to exchange information with the normal matter of the brain in order to affect the body’s actions.”

  “Yes, I would agree.”

  “So, if we were to speculate that a soul is some sort of as-yet undiscovered force, we would still have to admit that it can somehow interact with the normal matter of our brain, right? Otherwise, both body and soul would exist but would have no relationship to each other.”

  Dr. Pratt chewed on the idea. “Well, there is certainly some kind of interaction. Our life experiences and the moral judgments we make on Earth must be reflected in our soul. If not, how could we be judged fit for Heaven?”

  “So, if the soul is some kind of matter or energy we haven’t yet discovered, and it interacts with normal matter, then it must do so through some force or particle that we also haven’t discovered yet.”

  “I would certainly agree that we haven’t found any ‘soul particle’ yet.”

  “So one important question is, how does the soul know that the matter it’s associated with belongs to the brain of a human, and not to a chimpanzee, or a dog, or a fly? After all, biologically, neural cells from many different species are largely indistinguishable.”

  “Certainly there are some differences between the cells of a man and those of a fly,” said Pratt.

  “Yes, indeed. Many. But would that require the soul to read the entire DNA of the cell? Or would it just recognize cell-surface proteins the way another human cell would?”

  “Let’s say the soul recognizes human DNA.”

  “Okay, given that chimpanzee DNA is about 96% similar to human DNA, do chimps also have souls?”

  “I think that’s a trick question.”

  Darian laughed. “Yes, good for you. That is a trick question. The DNA of male humans and male chimps is about equally similar as that of male and female humans.”

  Dr. Sakira couldn’t help herself, “That explains so much.”

  Pratt smiled indulgently, but he wasn’t prepared to give up yet. “While animals may have spirits of their own, only human souls are generally considered to be made in God’s image. So, let's say the souls we are discussing are uniquely human.”

  “Okay, let’s specify the soul can recognize some subset of the DNA present in male and female humans that is uniquely human. Unless you would like to deny that human females have souls?”

  Dr. Pratt looked at President Sakira and Kathy. “I think I had best not deny that,” he said with a wry smile. Sakira returned the smile graciously.

  “Okay, so the soul recognizes some unique human brain DNA. Do you see the problem here?”

  “Yes, I think so. Since the DNA of all the cells in one person is essentially identical, the soul would need to be able to specify some non-DNA recognition mechanism that is specific to the brain, wouldn’t it?”

  Darian smiled. “Exactly. Now, we still could allow the soul to recognize some surface molecule encoded by the DNA but only expressed in the brain.”

  “Very well,” Pratt replied, “Let’s do that, although I’m sure you’ll find some way to make me regret conceding the point.”

  “That would lead to the question of how a soul knows its host body is dead. If it just recognized molecules instead of activity, one would think it would stay attached after death until decomposition was complete.”

  “I hadn’t realized the discussion was going to become so morbid,” said Dr. Sakira.

  “My apologies,” Darian briefly bowed his head in mock contrition.

  Dr. Pinto, who had remained relatively quiet through lunch, ventured in. “Why can’t we say the soul somehow recognizes electrical activity in the brain?”

  “Sure,” said Darian. “I imagine we could make a case that there is some pattern of brain activity that is uniquely human, perhaps even unique to each human. And perhaps that would allow the soul to stay attached to the body so long as the brain continued to be active.”

  “I could accept that,” said Pratt.

  “However, even this would still require the so-called soul particles to interact with active neurons, with their molecules, and their atoms.

  “We already have a model for how that might work, if we take a look at the dendy lattices. The semiconductor dendy sensors position themselves at synaptic junctions in the brain so they can detect and modify the neurochemical activity. So a reasonable place to look for the soul-brain interface would be at those synapses. I see two possible ways it could do this.”

  “Only two?” Pratt ribbed.

  “Logically, that’s all that’s possible. First, there could be interactions that we haven’t discovered between the molecules in these synaptic junctions and the supernatural particles of the soul. Now, those interactions would still have to act according to some sort of governing laws. Technically, that would make them supra-natural, not super-natural. Just because we haven't discovered or explained these particles and interactions, doesn't make them outside of nature. They would still fall under the purview of physics eventually.”

  “But the supernatural is unknown and unknowable,” Pratt objected.

  “Exactly,” replied Darian. “Accepting the possibility of such a mechanism would suggest that there are simply gaps in our understanding. We can surmise that we could eventually discover these soul particles and delineate their interactions with other particles.

  “Perhaps we need to put a live human in a particle accelerator,” Pratt jested.

  “The fact we have never seen such particles suggests we might need to do something like that,” said Darian. Even his postdocs weren’t sure whether he was being serious. “Over time, the discovery of such soul particles could conceivably lead to the development of a technology that might include soul detectors, perhaps even soul modifiers, or soul destroyers.”

  “I don’t think I’d like to see a technology of the soul.” interjected Dr. Sakira.

  “Me, neither,” replied Darian. “If sub-atomic soul particles actually existed, they could be horribly abused. However, Dr. Pratt also said that the supernatural is unknowable, so that only leaves us with the second mechanism.”

  “And what is that?”

  “The soul interacts with the brain directly by transiently altering the local natural laws. This is the very definition of supernatural. For example, the soul could alter the natural laws of physics locally, causing an ion channel in a synapse to open and initiating neural activity. Souls might be composed of collections or fields of natural laws. But no science of any such thing exists; we have no understanding of how such fields might interact with each other.”

  “In that case, souls would exist outside the universe of natural law. So science would have nothing to say about them, would it?” Pratt concluded triumphantly.

  “Correct. In that case, souls would be outside the natural laws of this universe.”

  “Thank you,” Pratt gloated, glad to finally gain some ground.

  Darian stared out the window, deep in thought. His breathing slowed and his eyes became unfocused.

  Is he going to pull some winning rebuttal out of thin air, or is he sore about l
osing a point—Greg wondered. In the awkward silence, the rest of the table sipped contemplatively at their beverages.

  Finally, Darian inhaled loudly, breaking the spell, and turned to Pratt as if there had been no pause in the conversation. “However, that would not put them outside of scientific investigation,” he said.

  “That’s preposterous!”

  “Not really. This discussion made me wonder whether we might be able to describe a physics of natural laws rather than a physics from natural laws. I have been working for some months on speculative physics of other universes and was able to sketch some equations based on the generalization of some alternative natural laws. I made the assumption that there could be a field or fields that would determine the rules for particle interactions in this universe or other universes.

  “The math was tricky,” his sheepish smile and boyish charm made everyone at the table, save Pratt, smile along with him. “But I believe the solution to those equations suggests it should be possible to test this new theory. That is, to create a device that could generate such a field and alter what we think of as the normal physical laws. Locally, at least.”

  "You could do that?" Bolting upright, Dr. Wong's sudden enthusiasm startled those beside him. Being a resolutely practical man, the topics of metaphysics and the supernatural normally fell outside his area of specialty. His interest in the conversation about souls had waned almost as soon as it began. But this could be big. Very big. “Do you mean to say, you've just invented a completely new area of physics?” His eyes locked onto Darian’s.

  “Well, the start, anyway. I’ve just sent the paper resulting from my calculations to your email. I hope you will approve it to be submitted for publication.”

  “You wrote a paper? Just now? In a few minutes?”

  “Let’s say, I finished one that I’ve been tinkering with for quite some time. The long relationship with my lattice helps a lot with that kind of thing. However, it does extract its payment. I’ll be famished again in about an hour.”

  “You've lost me," Pratt admitted. "How exactly does this relate to our discussion?”

  Greg jumped in. “If there is a physics describing how natural laws are generated and interact with each other, that would open the realm of the super-natural to scientific investigation.”

  “Exactly,” continued Darian. “We should be able to settle questions of the existence of souls, ghosts, and even God, once and for all. Once we remove these quaint concepts from our thinking, we’ll be able to proceed with a rational exploration of the basis of reality.”

  “I think you can all see why we were so pleased to be able to steal Dr. Leigh from Stanford,” President Sakira chuckled. “What will you call this new physics, Dr. Leigh?”

  Before Darian could answer, Larry suggested, “We should call it Natural Law Effect Physics.”

  “No way,” said Kathy. “The acronym would be NLEP. Too clumsy.” She scrunched her eyes, thinking fiercely. Greg loved watching her think.

  “Hey, I know,” she continued, “When I was an undergrad, one of the companies we studied was Apple, you know, before they merged with IBM to become Apple International. One of their founders, Steve Jobs, was famous for getting people to see things his way. People used to say that he had a Reality Distortion Field because he could convince people to redefine their perceptions of what was real or possible when he was around.

  “This new physics would be sort of the opposite. You could call it a Reality Assertion Field. RAF.”

  “I like that," said President Sakira. “I met Steve Jobs once when I interned at Apple. I think he would have been amused. What do you think, Dr. Leigh?”

  “I agree, and I think my dad would have liked it, too” Darian replied with a grin.

  President Sakira stood and raised her coffee cup. “I propose a toast.” Cups and glasses rose, and a handful of beaming faces looked at her expectantly. “I would like, once again, to welcome Dr. Darian Leigh to Simon Fraser University. We look forward to a long and productive relationship, and to a brilliant career—especially if today’s dazzling display is any indication. Here's to your first discovery at SFU, the Reality Assertion Field.”

  The table answered with a hearty, “To the Reality Assertion Field!”

  Dr. Pratt extended his sweating glass of iced tea in Darian’s general direction and performed a brief but convincing requisite sip, while he glared over the rim. The Reverend will not be pleased about this.

  24

  NCSA recording of a conversation between Dr. Lucius Pratt (Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Pacifica) and Reverend Alan LaMontagne (Austin, Tx, New Confederacy) on October 7, 2037.

  Pratt: Hello?

  LaMontagne: Dr. Pratt?

  Pratt: Speaking.

  LaMontagne: This is Reverend Alan LaMontagne calling from Austin.

  Pratt: Reverend LaMontagne! I wondered if I might hear from you directly. How may I help you?

  LaMontagne: I received a rather disturbing call from Reverend Curtis in Vancouver the other day. He says Darian Leigh is tinkering with God’s Laws of Nature, and that you provided the inspiration for that line of investigation. Is that correct?

  Pratt: If I lent that man inspiration in any way, I assure you, it was in no way intentional. I could never have guessed that our conversation would lead to that. We were hosting Dr. Leigh at a welcome lunch back in July, and Dr. Sakira extended her condolences to the lad on the recent death of his father. She merely remarked that the man’s eternal soul was now resting in a better place, and Dr. Leigh responded with a heartless monolog about how neither he nor his father believed in the human soul as there was no scientific evidence to support its existence.

  LaMontagne: Scientists! They should know better than to stick their noses outside their specialties.

  Pratt: I felt it was my duty to come to the poor woman's defense, so I pointed out that science has little if anything to say about the possible existence of souls. I thought that would put a diplomatic end to it. After all, it was his first day on the job and he was speaking to the President, the Dean of Sciences, and Department Heads. Instead, he attacked me, launching into an aggressive Socratic rant on his depraved view of the soul. He seems to think that souls are as amenable to study as rocks. I couldn’t allow such a statement to go unchallenged. I just couldn't. I made a case that souls belong to the realm of the supernatural; they are not and should not be subject to scientific investigation. I believe I was actually winning the point.

  LaMontagne: So how did he turn the discussion to his favor?

  Pratt: Not by fair argument. He twisted the intent of my words completely. He agreed that souls might be beyond the natural laws but, rather than concede the argument, he announced that he’d used his internal computer to invent some new kind of physics. He claims that mathematics provides some insight into how natural laws, the laws of God, might come into existence, and how they might be manipulated. I was appalled, of course. I could almost believe the man is in league with Satan, himself.

  LaMontagne: He very well could be. [Several seconds of silence follow]

  Pratt: At any rate, there is certainly something unholy about young Dr. Leigh. He is not a normal human being, with this internal machinery, and I fear the level of respect he is accorded by the science community. Playing God is dangerous. The hubris of this man is astounding. He is entirely oblivious to the dangers of what he is doing.

  LaMontagne: Many of his persuasion are so cursed.

  Pratt: When I accepted this position, I knew the deep lack of faith exhibited by the people of this region would require me to hold our Lord, Yeshua, more tightly to my breast than ever. But their lack of Godliness is astonishing, and it has only increased since the formation of this country they call Pacifica. They test me greatly on a daily basis.

  LaMontagne: Your devotion and service to the Church is both noted and appreciated, Dr. Pratt. Evil is strong in the hearts and minds of many scientists. Their materialistic view of the world is an
abomination; it reflects the devil’s dark deeds in opposition to our Lord. We are thinking perhaps you could use some assistance in your battle against this evil.

  Pratt: The burden may be great but I believe that I am up to the challenge. I don’t see how anyone might assist me.

  LaMontagne: The aid we're considering would be able to operate more overtly, with no risk of jeopardizing your valuable role within the community. You’ve proven your value in that post to us many times, particularly through your growing insight into the workings of these people. We don't want to risk losing that.

  Pratt: Thank you, Reverend. I must admit, it would be nice to see a more direct challenge to the blasphemy I hear every day within this academic environment.

  LaMontagne: Yes, it is time we begin countering these scientific and humanistic lies, and the long task of returning Pacifica to the righteous path from which it has strayed. [Short silence.] It's decided, then. I will arrive in Vancouver before the end of the year. Can you arrange proper accommodation for me?

  Pratt: It would be my pleasure, Reverend. I will coordinate with Reverend Curtis.

  LaMontagne: Would you also be able to arrange an appropriate time and place for me to engage with Darian Leigh, somewhere outside of his normal environment?

  Pratt: As it happens, we may have the perfect opportunity in place already. The local Philosophers’ Café group just announced that Dr. Leigh will be next month's guest speaker. He'll be discussing this new physics of his. What better place to start demystifying his "infallible" image? Would that work, or would you prefer something sooner?

  LaMontagne: No, that's perfect. My staff will contact you with my itinerary. I won’t meet with you personally while in Vancouver, Dr. Pratt, but I want you to know that you have our thanks for your efforts to date.

  Pratt: Thank you, Reverend LaMontagne; that means so much to me.

  LaMontagne: I’m glad to hear that. Bye, now.

  Pratt: Okay, good bye, sir. Thank you for calling.

  * * *

  THE THREE SCIENTISTS SAT AROUND THE PUB TABLE staring at the white gel capsules in front of them. They had been staring at them silently for the past ten minutes, no closer to deciding whether to take them.