Dr Stone The Mind Summary

From the depths of an atom to the far reaches of space mankind continues to evolve and expand their intelligence. What is intelligence? It is one’s ability to obtain, comprehend, and apply knowledge. Humans commit their entire lives trying to gain or improve their intelligence. This is because intelligence has become a requirement for almost everything in society. Popular culture has embraced intelligence into a necessary skill for happiness and prosperity in today’s world. However, the threat of intelligence is never considered when generations emphasize the importance of being intelligent person. With intelligence comes responsibility; however humans sometimes lack rationality to consider the negative effects of their intellectual creations.
Although the human intelligence is thought of as a greatest asset of man, it is however man greatest flaw, it is capable of magnificent creations, but the human mind does not have the rationality to control such creations thus it is capable of mass destruction. The flaws of intelligence are clearly represented in the novel the Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton in which scientists struggle to use their intelligence to stop their own creation. A virus from outer space, intended as biological weapon, now threatens the existence of man. Even with all their education and intelligence the Wildfire team struggle evaluate the Andromeda Strain. Crichton perfectly explains the faults of human intelligence through the events that occur in the novel. There are many reasons of why human intelligence creates a threat to mankind one of which was focused on in the novel was the functionality of the mind in high stress situations. As stated by Crichton “Men under stress are fools, and fool themselves.” (Crichton 237) Even though the scientists worked vigorously they could not find out the abilities of the alien bacterium. They were amazed at its simplicity; however under stress they could not use their intelligence to create a cure. (“Overview: The Andromeda Strain"). Even though part of the team warned that the team must rest, because if under stress and fatigue they will make mistakes. However, to the Wildfire Team the possibility of mistakes was minor to the fact that if they did not find out how to stop the virus, it would be the end of the world as they knew it. This pushed the scientists to work harder and longer with shorter periods of rest. The scientists made many mistakes because they were in a very stressful situation, since existence of man relied upon them. As explained by Mr. Whissen, human intelligence causes the mind to overlook small details which have major outcomes (Whissen, "The Andromeda Strain.").They overlooked minor details such as properly dissecting the test animal or taking time to analyze the data they had gotten from their research The effect of stress on the mind is also explored in the poem ,“The Mind” by Rajaraman, for example in the last stanza “For my mind can no longer comprehend” highlights that stress influences the comprehension of the human mind (Rajaraman, “The Mind”). The poem also correlates the effectiveness of human intelligence under extreme stress, similar to the predicament the scientists faced in the Andromeda Strain. The fact that human mind is not capable of function when under stressful situations, therefore does not apply its intelligence to it full capacity is reiterated continuously as the scientists struggle to find a way to stop the Andromeda virus (Crichton 237). Although stress is not the only flaw of human intelligence, it is a major aspect which is emphasized explicitly throughout the novel. “We are very curious creatures. Of a mind we yet to control”. (Rajaraman, “The Mind”).Creativity and curiosity are major aspects of human intelligence; however the mind is creative in a destructive way since in many cases it cannot control what its creativity has created. Dr.Stone was a very intelligent man and head of the wildfire team, but as the novel progressed he began to question human intelligence and feared the imminent end (Macdonald, "The Andromeda Strain.").Although Dr.Stone is reason that the government had initiated the wildfire team in case of a biological threat as the novel progressed Stone began questioning the utility of all thought. Stone insisted the government create Wildfire Team after being influenced by Merrick who stated that
These considerations lead me to believe that the first human interaction with extraterrestrial life will consist of contact with organisms similar to, if not identical to, earth bacteria or viruses. The consequences of such contact are disturbing when one recalls that 3 per cent of all earth bacteria are capable of exerting some deleterious effect upon man. (Crichton 43)
Dr.Stone is alarmed by this since bacteria and viruses already have a medical impact on the human species, alien bacteria could have the power to destroy humanity. Stone writes the letter to the government to create a team that would consist of the smartest people in world who can stop a biological threat. Human curiosity leads to investigation and accidental creations such as how the government intended to use such bacteria as biological weapons. As Crichton explained
In his blackest hours, Stone doubted the utility of all thought, and all intelligence. There were times when he envied the laboratory rats he worked with; their brains were so simple. Certainly they did not have the intelligence to destroy themselves; that was a peculiar invention of man.
Dr.Stone further stressed his views on the utility of human intelligence (Crichton 202). “I foresaw the dangerous of our intelligence. The imminent end we created” these lines from “The Mind” focus on the destructiveness of the mind and its creations (Rajaraman, “The Mind”). This destructiveness is also found in the novel in which the virus comes from outer space however through a human satellite which was primary intend for creation of biological weaponry for the military. However, through the crash landing it accidentally almost caused the extinction of mankind. Crichton explained this in the novel as “Human intelligence was more trouble than it was worth. It was more destructive than creative, more confusing than revealing, more discouraging than satisfying, more spiteful than charitable.” stressing another major flaw of human intelligence(Crichton 202).
Already, the brain consumed more than a quarter of the body's blood supply... an organ accounting for only a small percentage of body mass. If brains grew larger, and better, then perhaps they would consume more - perhaps so much that, like an infection, they would overrun their hosts and kill the bodies that transported them. Or perhaps, in their infinite cleverness, they would find a way to destroy themselves and each other. There were times when, as he sat at State Department or Defense Department meetings, and looked around the table, he would see nothing more than a dozen gray, convoluted brains sitting on the table... Just brains, sitting around, trying to decide how to outwit other brains, at other conference tables. Idiotic. (Crichton 203)
Crichton further developed Dr.Stone analysis of the uselessness of the human mind and intelligence.
Stone emphasizes the uselessness of the brain itself, and how the primary objective of the mind was to outwit others. Stone understood human intelligence was in itself similar to a virus or parasite which would kill its host, humans, and move on. In the poem “The Mind” the speaker similar in perspective to Dr.Stone also questions human intelligences and it usefulness which correlates with the poem in the lines “With an infinite mind with no laws .We tend to reach above the stars. I should have known we would cause .The elimination of what we are.”(Rajaraman, “The Mind”)There are no restrictions to human intelligence there are no limits to what it can accomplish. Although this may seem like a magnificent idea, the dangerous are unimaginable. The capabilities of the human mind may seem limitless, but nature always has a limiting factor in the case of the novel and poem it meant the extinction of the mankind. Even though the extinction was prevented in the novel it was only because a natural genetic mutation of the virus which became harmless to humans in the
process. The irrationality of human intelligence was a constant aspect of both the novel and the poem. Unlike machines, humans tend to be very irrational in most cases. This irrationality is another flaw of human intelligence, and is caused because of other aspects of humans which affect rationality such as feelings. Since “Crichton's stories generally take place in contemporary settings and focus on technological themes” technology was very important to the success of the scientists. ("John Michael Crichton”) Without the rationality of the technology the extinction of the human races is inevitable. As stated by Ms. Meyers "Human error — a misspelling — causes one prospective member of the team to be notified too late to participate;" this error is caused by the irrational actions effected the entire team and also delayed their primary objective (Meyers, "The Andromeda Strain.").Meyer also explained that without the help of technology the scientist would have never found minor details which they had overlooked (Meyers, "The Andromeda Strain"). “But bound by one soul” in the poem “The Mind” further reflects on the irrationality of humans because of their humane aspects such as their feelings and emotions (Rajaraman , “The Mind”). This error and irrationally manifests itself as oversight and neglect because human intelligence blinds rationality(Whissen , “The Andromeda Strain”).According to Meyers the only way that the problem can be solved is thorough humans and technology working in unison. They needed to combine the rationality of the machines and the intelligence of the human mind to find a solution. (Meyers, "The Andromeda Strain.") The scientist had to work with technology nearing the end of the novel to stop the government from nuking the Piedmont area, which would have provided enough energy for the virus to spread. Even though with the aid of technology the scientist were able to stop nuke which prevented the spread of the virus , however they could not decoded or find a cure for the virus which mutated into a harmless strain. In the end neither technology nor human intelligence could save mankind, but rather a small mutation which allowed the survival of the human race. The salvation of the human race was because of the natural genetic mutation not of the powerfulness of the human mind. The irrationality of the human mind was also a major flaw of human intelligence, because humane qualities such as emotions of humans interfere with their rationality. Intelligence is an aspect of human society which all humans strive to improve their entire lives.
From grade school to universities the most intelligent people are the most respected. Intelligence is taught as a skill that everyone must obtain to survive in today’s society. Intelligence also contains its flaws and errors. Humans because of our humane qualities can very irrational. Irrationality is a major flaw of intelligence; humans want to always maximize everything to its highest potential, but doing so has major consequences. Our creativity and curiosity allows humans to create magnificent and amazing inventions, but the flaw of irrationality negates such creation because they lack control. The possibility of an accident is increased when there is no control. The Andromeda Strain in which scientists struggle to use their intelligence find a cure for a virus. The novel represents all the flaws and errors of human intelligence in context to the plot. Errors of human intelligence are also explicitly explained in poem “The Mind” in which humans causes their own destruction in pursuit of power. Humans cause a threat to the destruction of mankind and life as they knew it. The mind has the potential for amazing creation, but also so complete obliteration of
mankind.