
Touche,' said the monochrome doctor. 'But the stories did have a purpose. What do we really know about
our own genetic makeup?'
'We don't really know much at all, sir. We were hoping that you might enlighten us.'
'And that I was endeavouring to do. Let me briefly summarize. Firstly, the shaggy dog story. Here we
have a mythic archetype. Cerberus, several-headed canine guardian of the Underworld. Ancient belief,
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brought fleetingly into a modern day setting. Of course, Mason was lying. The story was not true. It was a
shaggy dog story with a twist in its tail. But think archetype, if you will. Think of old gods and old belief
systems. Think of THE BIG IDEA, which existed in the beginning and from which all ideas come. I will return
to this.
'Secondly we have the ghost story. The present-day scientists are studying the ghosts of the past. They
can't actually see them, but they think perhaps they might be able to hear them, to sense them. But then
we discover that the scientists themselves are not of the present day. That they too are ghosts, mere
shades and shadows. And the story could continue endlessly. The tramps turn out to be ghosts, witnessed
by others who turn out to be ghosts and so on and so forth.
'So think here, the march of science, half-truth superseding half-truth superseding half-truth, on and on
and on, towards what? Ultimate discovery? Ultimate revelation? Are you following any of this,
Molekemp?'
'I suppose so, sir.'
'Jolly good. Third story. The fairy tale. The Old Pete character knows of the existence of fairies, he can
see them with his own two eyes. But he cannot admit this to his friend who has just told him that only
people with child-like minds can see fairies. Tricky dichotomy there, and one that cannot be resolved. The
Old Pete character's observation of the fairies is purely subjective. He may be a dullard, or he may be a
visionary. And we all know how the
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scientific fraternity loves to mock the visionary. Science demands a provable hypothesis, repeatable
experiments, double-blind testing and the seal of approval by those in authority. How well would fairies
fare?'
Molekemp's hand was once more in the air. 'Surely this is all somewhat circuitous, sir,' he said.
'Fascinating though it is, or, as far as I'm concerned, is not.'
Dr Steven shook his head. 'I felt that the stories had a certain elegance,' he said, 'and this too I wished to
touch upon. Science holds elegance to be something worthy of veneration. The poetry of mathematics,
always in stanzas rather than blank verse. The beauty of the models science creates to convey what can
never truly be understood. The pigeon-holing of reason. The belief that one thing should actually balance
another.'
Tm lost again,' said Molekemp.
'Then you are a twat,' said Dr Steven, 'and I shall waste no more time upon philosophical concepts.' He
turned to the blackboard and chalked up the letters DNA. 'So,' said he, 'DNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid, the
main constituent of the chromosomes from which we are composed. The DNA molecule consists of two
polynucleotide chains, in the form of a double helix, which contain-'
Somewhere in the distance a bell rang, and as if in silent tribute to Pavlov (whose lectures were
apparently a howl a minute) the students gathered together their belongings and left the auditorium.
Dr Steven Malone stood alone before his black-
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board. Top of the tree, icing on the cake and ivory mouthpiece he might have been, but communicator of
wisdom to the young and impressionable he was not. He was a visionary and he had glimpsed THE BIG IDEA,
but getting this across to his students was proving tricky.
He had been leading up to his conviction that present-day scientists in the field of genetics (that field