Цветы для Элджернона
PROGRESS REPORT 16
Motoractivityimpaired;generalreductionofglandularfunctioning;acceleratedlossofcoordination;andstrongindicationsofprogressiveamnesia.
AsIshowinmyreport,theseandotherphysicalandmentaldeteriorationsyndromescanbepredictedwithstatisticallysignificantresultsbytheapplicationofmynewformula.Althoughthesurgicalstimulustowhichwewerebothsubjectedresultedinanintensificationandaccelerationofallmentalprocesses,theflaw,whichIhavetakenthelibertyofcallingthe"Algernon-GordonEffect,"isthelogicalextensumoftheentireintelligencespeed-up.Thehypothesishereprovedmaybedescribedmostsimplyinthefollowingterms:
ARTIFICIALLY-INDUCEDINTELLIGENCEDETERIORATESATARATEOFTIMEDIRECTLYPROPORTIONALTOTHEQUANTITYOFTHEINCREASE.
AslongasIamabletowrite,Iwillcontinuetoputdownmythoughtsandideasintheseprogressreports.Itisoneofmyfewsolitarypleasuresandiscertainlynecessarytothecompletionofthisresearch.However,byallindications,myownmentaldeteriorationwillbequiterapid.
Ihavecheckedandrecheckedmydataadozentimesinhopeoffindinganerror,butIamsorrytosaytheresultsmuststand.Yet,IamgratefulforthelittlebitthatIhereaddtotheknowledgeoftheJunctionofthehumanmindandofthelawsgoverningtheartificialincreaseofhumanintelligence.
TheothernightDr.Strausswassayingthatanexperi-mentalfailure,thedisprovingofatheory,wasasimportanttotheadvancementoflearningasasuccesswouldbe.
