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*** Malakai@Argus.Interwebco.Com Malakai@Thunderbolt.Com ***
*** Malakai@Cloud.Com http://argus.interwebco.co/~malakai/index.htm ***
On Mon, 30 Sep 1996, Lyle Burkhead wrote:
>
> Many years ago I read a science fiction story which went along these
> lines:
>
> Dr. Paget was a mad scientist who found a way to create animals
> with human intelligence. By "human intelligence" I mean the animals
> have a causal model of the world, as we do. A Paget-dog (or padog)
> can cross the street without getting run over, just like we can.
> It understands its situation, it can make plans, it can communicate
> (using improvised signals and gestures) with other Paget-animals.
> Dr. Paget used horses, dogs, cats, rats, and mice in his experiment.
> So far all this is interesting but harmless, yes?
>
> But then the animals escape from the lab.
>
> The horses are quickly caught. Horses are too big to hide and they
> reproduce slowly. They never had a chance. But the smaller animals
> disappear into the countryside.
>
> Some of the padogs and pacats are caught and killed. The point is
> not lost on the other padogs and pacats. They know that humans are
> The Enemy, and they act accordingly. Soon there is a state of open
> warfare between humans and Paget-animals (usually known simply as
> "pagets"). Dr. Paget is lynched, and his son, who narrates the story,
> changes his name to avoid the same fate.
>
> A pacat who encounters a human will simply jump up into the human's
> face, scratch his eyes out, and jump back to the ground before the
> human can react. Padogs run in packs and become expert at killing
> humans. Parats and pamice learn to chew the insulation off wires, thus
> starting fires and making any kind of electrical equipment unusable.
> Cars and trucks are also unusable, because the pagets chew up the
> fuel lines, v-belts, hoses, and tires. Civilized life becomes impossible.
> Humans revert to pre-industrial society. Back to the jungle.
>
> The pagets reproduce much faster than humans, especially after
> parats discover how easy it is to kill human babies.
>
> After a few decades, the human population is reduced to a few million
> (in the whole world!) living in a state of siege.
>
> Unfortunately, Dr. Paget didn't find a way to create insects or bacteria
> with human intelligence. That would be even more fun.
>
> As I said before, I don't think it is possible to miniaturize humans.
> But if I am wrong, I don't see how the Paget-scenario can be avoided.
> Small creatures (or robots) with human intelligence won't be our
> slaves, at least not very long. Assuming they really do have human
> intelligence, they will soon find a way to escape (perhaps with help
> from sympathetic humans, or humans with more schadenfreude than
> sense). Then we will try to hunt them down, and war will ensue.
> How else could it turn out?
>
> Lyle
>
>