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"Everything starts as somebody's daydream. And, when you're daydreaming, it is science fiction. It's when you start work out how you put it together, true science fiction becomes real science."
- Larry Niven
 |
| Methuen Treatment | ||
| Injections that increase intelligence. |
Professor Methuen is described in the story as a "storklike man with a gray goatee" - and he has a rather puckish sense of humor when it comes to inventions. Especially after he tries his own special treatment to increase intelligence.
| "I think my original theory was right; that the electrical resistance of the gaps between human neurons is already as low as it can be, so the Methuen injections won't have any appreciable effect on a human being. Sorry, Johnny, but I'm afraid your boss won't become any great genius as a result of trying a dose of his own medicine.
The Methuen treatment had raised Johnny's intelligence from that of a normal black bear to that of a human being... |
| Technovelgy from The Exhalted,
by L. Sprague de Camp. Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1940 Additional resources -
|
It turns out that the Methuen Treatment does have an effect on human beings, but not quite in the manner expected. Click on the link to the story title in the above paragraph to see some of his prankster inventions.
Research shows that the processing speed of your brain does decline with age; some neuroscientists believe that a slowdown in processing speed may be the primary factor in age-related changes in cognition. Processing speed declines consistently across the adult lifespan.
Compare to the electro-culturer from The Ancient Brain (1929) by A.G. Stan gland and the bubbleheads from The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965) by Philip K. Dick
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'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
