100TWC - Day 92: Innocence

"There it is again, see?"
"This one? The one after AMG-1?"
"Yep."
"You're sure?"
"I think the evidence is pretty conclusive."

Gene Richards -- a man who regularly caused a great deal of mirth once people discovered what he did for a living -- sat back from the gel electrophoresis readout and smiled. Gene was a gene detective, and he had just hunted down his most important find yet. His colleague, Randy Martenson, scratched his head.

"It's going to need a name," he said.
"Yeah. I know. Ordinarily I'd agree with you, and the name would be obvious. But this is different."
"How so?"
"Think about it. If we publish this, and someone develops a test for it, as they certainly will, it could lead to massive exploitation of just about everyone on the planet."
"Why can't we just call it INN-1?"
"You haven't thought it through Randy. I've had this on my mind since we ran the first tests. What if I was right? What if we could track down this trait to a single gene? How would society at large -- and politicians and crooks in particular -- react? Look how much controversy there was when Daibell said he'd unearthed the gay gene. And that only affects around ten percent of the population. This is much more widespread."
"Any idea how much more?"
"Not at this stage. We'd have to perfect this test and then run a stat-sig trial. But I'd be willing to bet it'll be at least fifty percent. Maybe higher."

Randy whistled. "I had no idea it would be that much."
"Well, you know what they say," Gene took a swig of coffee. "You can fool all of the people some of the time. I'm guessing there's a nugget of truth behind that old saying. A hunk of genetic lore. We'll probably find there are some modifiers affecting INN-1 -- we might as well call it that for now, at least between the two of us -- so that it is expressed at some point in everyone's life. Maybe some of the other factors are environmental or developmental, things that turn INN-1 off, or suppress its worst effects, but every test we've done so far supports the results."
"I wouldn't have believed it if we hadn't demonstrated it in the Rhesus batch."
"I know. Those monkeys acted as if they were having a permanent blonde moment. Incredible. Incidentally we must look after them. They'll be ideal candidates to trial some of those environmental factors we should start looking for. But until we know more about how INN-1 expresses itself I think we should keep a lid on it."
"Shame. It's Nobel material this is, you know."
"I know. Hold that thought. We'll get there in the end. Both of us. But if the press get wind that we've discovered a genetic trigger for innocence, they'll make a mountain out of a molehill, and then we'll have hundreds of crooks looking to steal our research so they can MOVE that mountain for their own ends."
"I'm still not sure I--"
"You only have to think about it for a few minutes Rand! Adding a GM component to something as innocuous as cow's milk, or wheat flour -- one that causes INN-1 to express at its full potential? Well, we'd end up with a world full of sheeple."
"I hate that word."
"Well what else would you call them? You've seen what INN-1 did to the Rhesus monkeys. Imagine that, multiplied by a thousand, and distributed among the population in their daily bread. That would definitely be a case of 'give us our daily bread and we forgive those who trespass against us'. And what trespasses they would be. All the sales and marketing people would be able to sell anything to anyone. If they ever even noticed they were being sold crap they wouldn't be able to summon up the enthusiasm to do anything about it, even if they realised it was within their grasp to do anything at all! Con artists would be out there taking everyone's wallets in exchange for a 'wallet cleaning certificate'! Politicians would, well, they'd be even worse that they are now and they'd get away with it!"
"When you put it like that, it makes me think we should burn these notes altogether."
"On the one hand, I think you might be right. But on the other... If we can attack it the other way, before anyone else gets wind of it, we can find out how to turn INN-1 off for good."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Better than the alternative, I reckon. A world full of people who it's impossible to con. Who won't believe anything at all without rock solid proof, cast-iron guarantees and copper-bottomed promises."
"Won't there be side-effects?"
"That's got to be on our research list too. Baby's and bathwater and all that. What else does INN-1 influence? What were the evolutionary drivers to it coming into existence in the first place? What are the survival benefits of innocence? I must admit that from a standing start I can't think of any, but there must be some or INN-1 wouldn't exist."
"Procreation?"
"How do you mean?"
"Well -- look at ugly guys, to take a simple case. They, or should I say," Randy grinned, "we, have a lot going for us. Good genes in some respects even if they're not in the looks department. If we couldn't persuade a lady into bed, we'd never have a chance to pass those good genes on, would we? Maybe innocence gives us a head start in that respect?"
"You might have a point there Rand. That could be another research avenue. Find a bunch of fuglies and test their wives (and husbands). Find out if they've got unusually high levels of INN-1 activity. Nice one buddy! You just earned your October pay check!"