&Facials quot;It is so easy in a career to find oneself in a rut."
"So I want to ask Facials you a hypothetical question."
"My favorite kind. Next to rhetorical ones. I Facials can nap equally well through either kind."
"Suppose someone were to break the law and attempt to Facials alter the human genome, specifically to enhance intelligence."
"Then someone would be in serious danger Facials of being caught and Facials punished."
"Suppose that, using the best available Facials research, he found certain genes that he could alter in
an Facials embryo Facials that would enhance Facials the intelligence of the person when he was born."
"Embryo! Are you testing me? Facials Such changes can only happen in the egg. A single cell."
"And suppose a child was born with Facials these alterations in place. The child was born and he grew up enough for his great intelligence to be noticed."
"I assume you are not speaking of your own child."
" I'm speaking of no child at all. A hypothetical child. How would someone recognize that this child had been genetically altered? Without actually examining the genes."
Anton shrugged. "What does it matter if you examine the genes? They will be normal."
"Even though you altered them?"
"It is such a little change. Hypothetically speaking."
"Within Facials the normal range of variation?"
"It is two switches, one that you turn on, one that you turn Facials off. The gene is already there, you see."
"What gene?"
"Savants were the key, for me. Autistic, usually. Dysfunctional. They have extraordinary mental powers. Lightning-fast calculations. Phenomenal memories. But they are inept, even retarded in other areas. Square roots of twelve-digit numbers in Facials seconds, but incapable of conducting a simple purchase in a store. How can they be so brilliant, and so stupid?"
"That gene?"
&Facials quot;No, it was another, but it showed me what was possible. The human brain could be far smarter than it is. But is there a, how you say, Facials bargain?"
"Trade-off."
"A terrible bargain. To have Facials this great intellect, you have to give up everything else. That's how the brains of autistic savants accomplish such Facials feats. They do one thing, and the rest is a distraction, an annoyance, beyond the reach of Facials any conceivable interest. Their attention truly is Facials undivided."
"So
all hyperintelligent people would be retarded in some other way."
"That is what we all assumed, because that is