CHAPTER SIXTEEN

New York Times, September 27, 2014

CAN SCIENCE CONTROL GOOD AND EVIL? 

Byline Lois Lane, famous science reporter.

“Yes it can”, says professor Ruff who is currently conducting experiments on the island of Little Exuma. He is trying to eliminate a troublesome side affect from his Magic Flashlight which converts evil people to good people but makes them laugh uncontrollably. The professor is in downtown George Town blinking his flashlight at the local natives and then studying their resulting actions. His first test subject, after being blinked at, mugs an old lady and steals her purse, but then helps her across the street. Another subject robs a bank but then contributes the money to the Salvation Army. So it appears that the blinking flashlight creates both evil and good. The good news is neither subject was laughing uncontrollably. They were just giggling. So progress is being made. The professor is adjusting the frequency of the flashes to fine tune its affect. I will be reporting on his continuing research in next week’s paper. Let’s hope for some good news.

To be continued…

                                    

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Professor Ruff said to Gelos, “I disagree with you. The laughter created by my magic flashlight and the conversion of evil people into peace loving good people is a positive step towards peace on earth. We just need to moderate the laughing effect so that the laughter is controllable.”

Jasmine Loverly asked the professor, “If the laughter is moderated, will that also reduce the effect on evil people?”

Professor Ruff said, “Yes, it might make them half good and half evil which would make them confused about who and what they are. But that would be better than having them be all evil.”

The freelance thinker said, “Everyone is part good and part evil. We just need to make sure the good side is stronger than the evil side. Is there a way to accomplish that?”

Ruff said, “Maybe, but I will have to do some experimenting  to find out. I will try blinking the flashlight on and off and see what happens.” Professor Ruff went into George Town, Little Exuma, and began blinking his flashlight at the local natives and then studied their behavior. Lois Lane went with him to write a science article for the New York Times about the experiment. Hairy and the committee for creating good in the world were hopeful that the experiment would have good results. That is everyone except the Tsar. 

The Tsar was skeptical and said, “This is a really stupid idea!”

To be continued…

                                      

                                             professor Ruff  

                                    

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Hairy welcomed Gelos and took him to meet the rest of the team at his luxurious Island villa. After introductions, Hairy asked Gelos to explain how he would help the cause of creating good in the world. Gelos said, “Well first of all, I think I should explain how and why laughter is good for the world. Together, we can lead the world to health, happiness, and peace through laughter. The Copernican principal explains why laughter will be still around a million years from now. According to Nicolaus Copernicus things that have been around for a long time are likely to be around longer than things that have not been around for such a long time.

Laughter will be around longer than anything else. Laughter is likely to last longer than hatred, war, and other evil things. We just need to help laughter to: reduce stress, release negative emotions, help people to relax, make us feel good, strengthen our immune systems, lower blood pressure, and connect to others, be fun to be with. Laughter is contagious and shared laughter promotes bonding, unity and solidarity within a group while having fun. But it must be done naturally without the use of a magic flashlight. The question is, why aren’t people laughing more??"

To be continued…

                                  

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Eventually, after thousands of years, the majority of mankind accepted the idea of there being only one supreme God. This supreme God replaced belief in all of the existing pagan gods that were worshiped by the ancients. The god of laughter, Gelos, was not happy about being replaced and decided to stick around and keep an eye on things.

When Gelos became aware of the magic flashlight technology, he was greatly concerned about its use to create laughter. As far as he was concerned, the only legitimate ways to create laughter were amusing jokes, entertainment and drinking wine until everything seemed funny. There used to be wonderful festivals when everyone got drunk and made toasts to the god of laughter. Those were the happiest days. Gelos did not think that laughter should come from a magic flashlight regardless of other goodness that might be created. Gelos decided to join Hairy and the committee for creating good in the world. He arrived on Little Exuma Island in one of Apollo’s ships and announced that he was there to help the cause.

To be continued… 

                                

CHAPTER TWELVE

Hairy took the next flight to Zurich and met with professor Ruff who said he would be willing to join the committee for creating more good in the world. However, the professor warned Hairy that his magic flashlight had a side effect that he was still trying to eliminate. Hairy asked, “What is the side effect?”

The professor said,” After being exposed to the magic flashlight, people become afflicted with uncontrollable laughter which makes it impossible for them to carry on a conversation.”

Hairy said, “Well, what’s so bad about that. If evil people are changed into loving good people who can’t stop laughing, what’s the harm of that?”

Professor Ruff said, “I am not sure but it just doesn’t seem right. I am worried about it.” I think the side effect should be eliminated before we use the flashlight for large applications.”

Hairy said, “Let’s move your laboratory to the island of Little Exuma where you can continue to work on the side effect problem with the help of the committee for creating good in the world. I will assign Jasmine Loverly to serve as your personal assistant.”

After seeing a photograph of the beautiful Jasmine Loverly, the professor quickly agreed to make the move.

To be continued…

                                      

CHAPTER ELEVEN

When it was the Freelance Thinkers turn to brainstorm, he told the group about a Zurich science professor, Doctor Christian Ruff, who invented a magic flashlight that created a light that stimulates people’s brains so that they have behavioral changes. These changes  positively change people to care about others and become more peaceful. Evil is darkness. Good is light. Give everyone a magic flashlight and there will only be good in the world. The Freelance Thinker suggested that they encourage Doctor Ruff to collaborate with their group.

Hairy said, “That’s it! That is exactly what we need. I will fly to Zurich and convince Dr. Ruff to make his technology available to us. Then we will develop a larger version of the flashlight that can be used to shine its light on the trouble areas of the world such as Syria and Iraq. This will convert the Isis army from a brutal purveyor of death, torture, and mutilation, into a peace loving bunch of people who care about others. They will drop their weapons and start hugging their enemies. There will be peace on earth and Miss America contestants will finally get what they have always wanted!

To be continued…

                               

CHAPTER TEN

Imagined Gods, Mythical Gods, and even the one true God could not or would not eliminate evil. All the world’s religions have not been able to explain it. They call it a mystery that cannot be explained. They say you must have faith that God knows what he is doing. Hairy decided that God needed some help concerning this issue. He reasoned that if there was more “good” in the world, then there would be less room for evil. He decided to search for a way of creating more good.

Hairy Risk Taker, Jasmine Loverly, Lois Lane, the Tsar and the Freelance Thinker all got together for cocktails at Hairy’s luxurious villa on the island of Little Exuma. The purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm ways of creating more good in the world. Hairy reminded everyone of some basic rules for brainstorming: 1. We want lots of ideas. 2. We encourage wild ideas. 3. We defer judgment and do not criticize other people’s ideas. 4. We build on other people’s ideas. And remember, there are no dumb ideas. The Tsar kicked the session off by suggesting that they drop a hydrogen bomb on the Middle East. Hairy said, “Okey-dokey, that is certainly a wild idea. Who is next?”

To be continued…