Free The God Wave by Patrick Hemstreet Page B

I mean we know that the human brain is plastic, adaptable. But just how adaptable, we’re only now discovering.”
    Matt came farther into the lab, looking at Mike a little differently now. “To be clear, what we’re doing here is creating an evolutionary imperative.”
    â€œWell, I wouldn’t call it an imperative. More like an evolutionary opportunity.”
    â€œAn evolutionary opportunity. Can I quote you on that, Doc?”
    â€œSure. Why not? But if anyone laughs, tell them it was Dice’s idea.”
    Dice snorted and stood up from where he’d been tinkering with Roboticus’s Wi-Fi transceiver. “We’re ready to give it a try. You all set, Mike?”
    â€œYeah. Can’t you see me flexing my brain muscles?”
    Dice smiled and glanced at Matt. “You got a moment to watch the maiden voyage of the Wi-Fi interface?”
    â€œSorry, no. I have to go write a speech.”
    â€œAND THAT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, is perhaps the most exciting thing about our research: the subjects we are working with on a frequent basis are rewriting their own internal software. They are, in essence, taking advantage of an evolutionary opportunity afforded them by the Brenton-Kobayashi Kinetic Interface. And as they do, we’ve discovered one other thing: the possibilities are endless.”
    Matt wrapped up his talk to thunderous applause, after which he did some Q and A. Mostly the questions were about real-world applications, which he was more than happy to provide. Here Matt was careful to speak his audience’s language. He was courting a mixed group of politicians and businessmen, with a handful of medical professionals who worked for a medical equipment manufacturer thrown in. That audience required a broad-based approach that made use of some of Chuck’s favorite words: transcend, surmount, and quality of life.
    â€œImagine,” Matt told one manufacturer of printed circuitry, “that you have an employee—a highly skilled, well-trained employee—whose job is to design PC boards. That employee suffers a broken finger. Your normal course of action in that case might be to put the employee on disability, right?”
    The man nodded.
    Matt walked to the whiteboard that was set up behind him in the hotel ballroom and wrote “short-term disability.”
    â€œOkay, and you’d have to put someone else in the position, meaning you’d have to hire and train another CAD/CAM operator, yes?”
    â€œYes.”
    Matt wrote “hire and train” on the board.
    â€œAnd while that person is coming up to speed, is he or she going to be as productive as the original designer?”
    â€œHell no.”
    Matt wrote “lost productivity” beneath the other notations.
    â€œWhat about the quality of their work? Is that going to be up to par?”
    â€œNo.”
    Now others were shaking their heads.
    Matt turned back to the board and wrote “increased quality-assurance hours.”
    â€œSo all in all, you’re looking at a pretty costly situation. What does it cost to hire and train these days?”
    â€œPretty close to ten grand for that level of employee,” said the manufacturer.
    â€œTen grand,” Matt repeated. “Per employee.” He capped the marker. “Now let’s imagine that the same injury befalls someone trained to work with the CAD/CAM machine through Becky. That employee could return to work almost immediately. Heck, they could even lie down on the job if they needed to. As long as they could see their workspace using our patented kinetic converter, they could continue to output designs or finished product. No need to hire and train anybody to take their place. No need for them to avail themselves of disability insurance, thus cutting their paycheck. No need for their quality to fall off, thus creating more work for your QA teams and more rework for them or another