The possibilities are endless and it is a slippery slope because the same techniques used to remove a genetic disease from an embryo could be used to alter the child's eye color, intelligence and so on. If it is not stopped, there is no reason why people could not design their own babies! Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know. I'm still wrestling with plant people and Stareaters. But the day is coming when we will have to decide not whether these things can be done but rather should they be done.
This image of Eadweard Muybridge’s galloping horse embedded within the DNA of a bacterium is courtesy of Seth Shipman:
Entry 5-234: August 22, 2017
Okja
Yesterday, I introduced you to CRISPR which is an acronym referring to a technique by which scientists can directly edit a living organism's DNA. They can add genes or delete them. With them, they can cure disease or engender organisms which are essentially new to this Earth.
I have mentioned my infatuation with Netflix before mainly because Netflix and all the other streaming services online or coming online represent an entirely new market for original material. My own Rome’s Revolution isn't really suited to a two hour movie. It would make a far better mini-series or three. So I am rooting for Netflix to thrive so that when I am ready, my books can take their place among their original programming.
It is in that vein, along with my summary of CRISPR, that I would like you to go watch the movie called Okja available on Netflix now. This is an original made-for-Netflix movie and only available on Netflix. It is about genetically altered pigs engineered to reduce animal emissions and carbon footprint while creating a great new source of animal protein. One of the antagonists, played by Tilda Swinton, explicitly states that the animal has to taste f**king good. Besides Tilda Swinton, the movie features Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano and an especially likeable little girl, Mija, played by Seo-Hyun Ahn as Okja's friend and protector.
Okja herself, a completely CGI creation, is a good-natured and extremely intelligent super-pig. It is easy to get attached to her and the animation is so good that it is easy to believe the animal is real. I don't want to spoil it for you so I won't tell you what happens, merely that you should watch it.
This movie is a cautionary tale of what happens when corporate America gets their hands on CRISPR and uses it to do things which may not be good. The writers and director make sure which side earns your loyalty.
Entry 5-235: August 23, 2017
Where to go
A few days ago, we observed that Rome informed Rei and Bonnie that the woman who ran the merchant's stall in the shadow of The Hand of Deucado might have seen David Troutman. Troutman was one of the two would-be assassins who tried to kill Rei. So the only way they would find out more information was to go to the top of The Hand. How to get there? That is the next part:
There were several ways to get to the top of The Hand. Technically, it was possible to walk up. The first people to arrive at Ur had actually carved out a series of stairwells, switchback-style, to make it feasible to go to the top by foot. But most found that too tedious. Some industrious soul had built a dumb-waiter style elevator to the top that now served as a cargo lift. After the casino was built, a much nicer, glass-enclosed elevator was constructed to ferry people topside in elegant fashion. The elevator was mounted on the western side of the gigantic tower.
It cost Rei, Rome and Bonnie one Deucat each to take the ride to the top but it was money well spent. The three of them stared out the window at the majestic vista as they rose to the plateau on top. As they got higher, if anything, Lake Eprehem seemed to get larger and stretched out forever in front of them.
As they stepped out of the elevator onto the rocky surface, one half mile in the air, Bonnie grabbed onto Rei’s arm.
“What is it?” Rei asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s just that being up here makes my knees rubbery.”
“We’ll hold on to you,” Rome said, going around the other side and taking Bonnie’s arm. “Let’s go.”
To the west and north, the view was completely unobstructed. Along the leeward side, to the east, there were some restaurants and an inn. They walked past all of the structures to the very tip of The Hand. Rei’s guess was they were on the ‘ring finger’ of the titanic structure. Thoughtfully, somebody had constructed a railing to prevent people from tumbling over the edge. Rome leaned over and looked straight down, one half mile, into the deep blue waters of Lake Eprehem. From their vantage point, it looked like they were suspended in space. The lake appeared to stretch forever in all directions.
“Sleek,” Rome said. “It is beyond beautiful. Who knew our little world contained such a treasure?”
Rei smiled at her use of the word sleek. “It is sleek,” he said. “Someday, we’ll come back here for a proper vacation but for now, we should get to the business at hand.”
Rome looked around. There weren’t many people on top this day. “We go door to door?” she asked.
“No need,” Rei said, pointing at the glittering façade of the largest building on top. Its shiny exterior would shout casino on any world. “We go to the casino. If Troutman came up here, chances are that’d be where he was headed.”
“What is a casino, anyway?” Rome asked as they approached. “What is its purpose?”
Rei laughed. “Its purpose is for people to lose money.”
Rome had a hard enough with money. She thought it was stupid. And now Rei shows her a place whose sole purpose is to separate a fool and his money? What will she make of that?
Entry 5-236: August 24, 2017
The Vuduri Casino
Yesterday, Rei explained to Rome that the purpose of a casino was to lose money. Rei was well aware of the fact that Rome had a hard enough time understanding the concept of money and he was fairly certain she would not comprehend why you would give it away for no apparent reason. But Rei is from our time and he understands the appeal of a casino so he knew it was most likely the only place Troutman might visit. Why? That wasn't clear yet:
“I don’t understand,” Rome said. “Why would they go to the trouble of acquiring it, just to lose it?”
“It’s for gambling,” Bonnie offered, trying to clear things up.
“And what is gambling?”
“There are games of chance in there,” Bonnie said, pointing forward. “People bet. Some people win. But mostly, in the end, everybody loses.”
“This is like our card games?” Rome asked. “We never played for anything other than the joy.”
“Yeah,” Rei said, “but some people find more joy when they win money.”
“Back to money again,” Rome said. “The whole concept is starting to make me angry. I only went along with it because we had to get on our way. I think I am against it just on general principles.”
“I agree with you,” Rei said, as he opened the front door. “My people brought a lot of cultural hang-ups with us and that is not one of the good ones.”
They entered inside and were immediately assaulted with flashing lights, bells and assorted sounds going off and a smell that reminded Rome of Nick Greer’s cell back on Helome.
To their left was a bank of slot machines. They were sparsely populated with a couple of Essessoni and Deucadons. To Rei’s surprise, he saw not only some Ibbrassati but also two people who were clearly Vuduri. He stared at them. There was no doubt about it; they were playing the slots. The whole picture was surreal.
“Where do we start?” Rome asked, interrupting Rei’s reverie.
“Let me find somebody,” Rei said and he charged forward. He found an Ibbrassati woman dressed in some sort of costume which Rei figured meant she worked there.
“Hello,” he said to her.
“Hello,” she replied. Her eyes widened a bit when she realized who she was talking to. “What can we do for you? Are you here to play?”
“Not really,” Rei said. He looked up and around and immediately spotted several security cameras. “Is
there somebody we can talk to about people coming and going? Maybe look at your security footage?”
The woman shook her head. “No, that is off-limits to everyone,” she said. “You’re not allowed.”
Rei frowned. “You know who I am, right?”
“Of course,” she said. “But you still aren’t allowed. We must respect everyone’s privacy.”
“Is the owner here or a manager or something?” Rei asked.
“I cannot say,” she replied. “Management doesn’t mix with the patrons.”
“Sure they do,” Rei insisted. “It’s important.”
“No, sir,” the pretty little Ibbrassati said. She turned to walk away. As she left, she said, over her shoulder, “If you are not going to play, you may as well leave.” She waved to a rather large Essessoni who was standing to the rear. He started making his way over to where Rei and Rome were standing.
Uh-oh. A bouncer. I guess they'd better sit down and play a few hands. But how are they going to get the attention of management?
Entry 5-237: August 25, 2017
A New Kind of Poker, Part 1
Yesterday, Rome and Rei entered the casino at the top of The Hand of Deucado, looking for one of the would-be assassins. Since this was the future, I had to think of some futuristic variations of common casino games. One of my ideas was to evolve poker from five card stud and five card draw, past Texas Hold'em to yet a new variation where Rome's mind-reading ability would be useful. I ended up calling it House Poker or Hoker.
I consulted with my stepson Matthew on how to change it up so that it would be challenging but still make sense. It took us several weeks but we eventually came up with the rules. Let me tell you, inventing a new card game is hard! I didn't go too deeply into the design within Rome’s Evolution but enough so you could see how it was similar and how it was different:
“You said down below you can read people’s minds without touching them, right?” Rei asked in a low voice.
“Yes,” Rome answered in kind. “Superficial thoughts only, though.”
Rei pointed to the card table on the far right. “What about what cards each person is holding in their hands? Do you think you could tell me that?”
“I suppose,” Rome said, “if they were concentrating on them.”
“That’s kind of cheating,” Bonnie said, “Don’t you think?”
“Exactly,” Rei said. “What better way to get management’s attention?”
Bonnie cocked her head in confusion but then she nodded definitively.
“OK,” Rei said to Rome. “Let’s try,” He took Rome’s hand and led her to a table where there were four people and a dealer playing hoker.
Hoker or house poker was a simple variation of regular five card draw. The only difference was the house participated in the hand instead of merely dealing. The dealer would look at each card before handing it to the players and they would keep every fifth card. To stay in a round, a player had to bet a certain amount. Since the house had a distinct advantage, to make the game more fair, a player could withdraw from each round by surrendering half of their pot. If the dealer drew three of a kind or two pair before the players accumulated something better, the house won. A player could lay their hand down at any time and if they beat everyone, they won everyone’s chips including those that belonged to the house.
It was a simple game and went very fast. A good player could lay down their hand or surrender early and do well. A bad player would wait too long and the house would win.
Rei brought Rome right up to the edge of the table. Bonnie stood directly behind her.
“Undo your jumpsuit a little bit,” Rei thought to Rome. “Show a little flesh. It’ll distract people.”
“What!?” Rome exclaimed, slightly insulted.
“Trust me,” Rei answered. “Then look in their minds and see if you can tell me what every player has in their hand,” Rei asked Rome mentally.
Rei is breaking every rule he can think of so he can get caught cheating. An odd strategy to be sure. Let's see if it works.
Entry 5-238: August 26, 2017
A New Kind of Poker, Part 2
Yesterday, I introduced you to a new kind of card game, a variant of poker, called house poker or hoker for short. This game was mentioned earlier in Rome’s Evolution as justification for Paul Chung to interact with David Troutman. It is similar to other kinds of poker in that the dealer's cards act as part of yours but the dealer can lay down and win the hand rather than be a passive participant, thus the name house poker. I needed a game where the house could lose money if a really good player came along. Normally, the dealer just sits there and collects money for facilitation, i.e. no risk. And in Rei's case, it really helps to have a mind-reader as your partner:
Rome did as Rei requested then she started with the first player on the far right. “Two queens, a seven and a four,” Rome replied.
“Great,” Rei answered. “And the next one?”
“Three eights and a six.”
“And the next?”
“A four, a five, a six and an eight.”
“Same suit?”
“Yes,” Rome replied.
“OK. Great. Forget the last one. See what you can do with the dealer,” Rei instructed. “That’s the most important one.”
“The dealer has three tens and a jack. She’s getting ready to deal.”
The player with three of a kind said, “Call” and he laid down his hand. All the other players turned their hands over. The dealer smiled and flipped over her cards and the man who had called slapped the table.
“Damn!” he said. “I thought I had you.” The dealer calmly collected all the chips and swept them into a receptacle. A helper pulled them out and organized them into the little trays in front of the dealer, sorted by color. The man who lost the hand got up and left the area.
“OK,” Rei said out loud. “I’ll give it a try.”
“Are you sure that is wise?” Rome asked. “This seems like a triviality. Don’t we have more important things we should be doing?”
Bonnie leaned over and whispered, “If he’s going to do what I think he’s going to do, it’s exactly the right thing.”
Rome looked at her then looked at Rei and shrugged. Rei sat down and pulled out his bag of Deucats. “What’s the table minimum?” he asked.
“Five Deucats,” answered the dealer. Rei pulled out fifty of the silver coins and placed them on the table. The dealer pulled them forward, counted them, and handed Rei a stack of chips.
“Tell me every card as they are drawn,” he said to Rome. “And keep track of what the dealer has. That’s the most important thing.”
“If you say so,” Rome replied and they begun.
It’s amazing what you can win if you cheat. Nearly every hand, Rei laid down his hand early or surrendered. Slowly but surely, his pile of chips grew larger and larger and larger. Every tenth hand or so, he’d turn in a stack of chips for a chip of larger value which he would hand to Rome. Rei was like a chip-collecting machine. The stack of chips he handed to Rome eventually became so cumbersome, she had to take off her cloak and use it as if it were a sack.
When you are at the casino and your partner isn't playing, it makes it fun for them to collect the winnings so I incorporated that into the story. And to some degree, this has always been everyone's fantasy, to know what cards were coming before they come. Nothing can stop Rei now but that isn't his goal.
Entry 5-239: August 27, 2017
The house always wins
Yesterday, Rei sat down at a hoker table with Rome as his mind-reading partner. There almost isn't any card game you can't win if you can know the other player's cards. Especially in hoker which allows you to back out gracefully if you think you have a losing hand or lay down fast if you know you have a winner. Rei started raking in the Deucats and everyone around could see he was unstoppable. Rei was hoping the house could not let him get away with it. The house is supposed to always win. Let's see how they
plan to thwart him:
It didn’t take long until the other players left the table in disgust only to be replaced by a series of gawking onlookers. Soon it was just Rei and the dealer. That was when he really kicked it into high gear. He bet a hundred, then two hundred, then five hundred Deucats per hand. With relentless precision, his pile of winnings became uncountable, especially because the bulk of it was hidden in Rome’s bulging cloak.
Each time Rei won, the steadily-growing crowd shouted and cheered. At one point, the dealer was breathing heavily and asked to be excused. The heavy-set Essessoni who they had spotted coming from the rear sat down to take her place. As he sat down, he pulled the deck closer to him and centered it.
“Rei!” Rome said insistently. “He just put four cards on top of the deck that he was holding in his palm.”
“Do you know what they are?” Rei asked, frowning.
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