The Terminal Man Summary and relation to Biology
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The events in the novel take place between March 9 and March 13, 1971. Harry Benson, a computer scientist (specializing in artificial intelligence) in his middle thirties, is described as suffering from psychomotor epilepsy following a car crash he had endured in 1969. He often has seizures followed by blackouts, and then wakes up hours later with no knowledge of what he has done. During his seizures, he severely beats two people; the day before his admission, he had been arrested after attacking a third, a gas-station attendant. He is a prime candidate for an operation to implant electrodes and minicomputer in his brain to control the seizures, which will be performed in the Neuro-Psychiatric Service of University Hospital. Two NPS surgeons, John Ellis and Robert Morris, are to perform the surgery, which is unprecedented for the time. In modern medicine, such a device would be called a brain pacemaker.
The procedure is questioned by the NPS's staff psychiatrist, Janet Ross, and later by her former teacher, a very intelligent professor named Manon, at the lecture about the surgery. Manon raises concerns that Benson is psychotic (pointing to Benson's belief that there is no difference between man and machine) and the crimes he commits during the blackouts will not be reduced. Ellis admits that what they are doing is not a cure, simply a way to stimulate the brain when the computer senses a seizure coming on. It would prevent a seizure but not cure his personality disorder. Despite the concerns voiced, the team decides to go ahead with the operation. The operation implants forty electrodes in Benson's brain, controlled by a small computer that is powered by a plutonium power pack in his shoulder. Benson must wear a dogtag that says to call University Hospital if he is injured, as his atomic power pack might emit radiation. While he is recovering, a woman identifying herself by the name of Angela Black gives Morris a black wig for Benson, whose head was shaved prior to the operation. After resting for a day, Benson goes through "interfacing." The forty electrodes in his brain are activated by computer technicians Gerhard and Richards, one by one, to see which ones would stop a seizure. Each produces different results. Ross asks Gerhard to monitor Benson every ten minutes. Gerhard shows his findings to Ross, who realizes that the seizures are getting more frequent. She explains that Benson is learning to initiate seizures involuntarily because the result of these seizures is a shock of pleasure, which leads to him having more frequent seizures. She then finds out that Benson has evaded the police officer assigned to guard him and escaped from the hospital.
Ross goes to Benson's house, but instead finds two girls who say he has a gun and blueprints for the basement of University Hospital, where the computer mainframe is located. Ellis searches at a strip club where Benson, who is fascinated with all things sexual, spends a lot of time, but fails to find him. Morris goes to the firm where Benson is employed, and there meets Benson's boss who tells him that Benson disliked University Hospital because of its ultra-modern computer system, an upgraded IBM System/360 which the hospital had obtained during "Watershed Week," when the total information-handling capacity of all the world's computers exceeded that of all the world's human brains.
Ross is contacted by Los Angeles Police Captain of Detectives John Anders, a homicide detective who had found Benson's dogtag at the murder scene of Angela Black. (She proves to have been a dancer with the real name of Doris Blankfurt.) After answering questions at the police station, Ross goes home. Benson arrives at her house, and has a seizure, which causes him to attack Ross. Ross manages to turn on her microwave oven, which disrupts the atomic pacemaker in his shoulder. He runs away. Ross goes back to the hospital and goes to sleep. When Blankfurt/Black is brought back to the hospital for autopsy, pathologists find a book of matches that have the name of an airport hotel. Morris goes to this airport hotel, where Benson had first been arrested for assault and battery, and a bartender says he saw Benson an hour ago leaving with Joe, who took him to the hangar. Morris goes to this hangar and finds Joe severely beaten. He is in turn attacked by Benson, who smashes the lower part of his face in with a steel pipe and then flees.
Ross, back at the hospital, is awakened by Gerhard. She has a call from Benson. When Anders traces the call he realizes that Benson is inside the hospital. Gerhard's and Richards's computers begin to malfunction, as if somebody was disturbing the mainframe. Anders and Ross go down into the basement in search of Benson. Anders locates Benson and has a brief firefight, injuring and disarming Benson before becoming lost in the maze of corridors. Benson goes back to the computer room to finish shutting down the computer mainframe and finds Ross. Ross picks up Benson's gun, Benson returns to the computer and goes to steal the gun from Ross. After an intense, tearful internal struggle, Ross finally shoots and kills Benson unintentionally.
This book could be associated with the Essential Standard Bio 3.3.3, which is "Evaluate some of the ethical issues surrounding the use of DNA technology (including cloning, genetically modified organisms, stem cell research, and Human Genome Project)." This book is related to this standard because many ethical issues are raised with a project that could be called "mind control". Many people around the globe doesn't think it's right to try to alter/control a natural, human process (in this case it would be the way Benson's brain worked and how they used the electrodes to stop certain functions of it) with technology. People would say that if we weren't born with a computer to help us out in our everyday lives, then it doesn't belong in our bodies. There is a large gap there between morally right and morally wrong. In the book, Dr. Ross did not think it was right for these people to do the operation. Some of it was because she knew the effects wouldn't be good and some of it was because she didn't believe it was 100% right. It turned out that Dr. Ross was correct, the effects of the operation were not something to be praising the doctors for. This project that the doctors at the NPS conducted could be closely related to projects like The Human Genome Project and it really comes down to whether or not you as a person believes in these projects that, in future with more research, could help to save millions of lives worldwide.
The procedure is questioned by the NPS's staff psychiatrist, Janet Ross, and later by her former teacher, a very intelligent professor named Manon, at the lecture about the surgery. Manon raises concerns that Benson is psychotic (pointing to Benson's belief that there is no difference between man and machine) and the crimes he commits during the blackouts will not be reduced. Ellis admits that what they are doing is not a cure, simply a way to stimulate the brain when the computer senses a seizure coming on. It would prevent a seizure but not cure his personality disorder. Despite the concerns voiced, the team decides to go ahead with the operation. The operation implants forty electrodes in Benson's brain, controlled by a small computer that is powered by a plutonium power pack in his shoulder. Benson must wear a dogtag that says to call University Hospital if he is injured, as his atomic power pack might emit radiation. While he is recovering, a woman identifying herself by the name of Angela Black gives Morris a black wig for Benson, whose head was shaved prior to the operation. After resting for a day, Benson goes through "interfacing." The forty electrodes in his brain are activated by computer technicians Gerhard and Richards, one by one, to see which ones would stop a seizure. Each produces different results. Ross asks Gerhard to monitor Benson every ten minutes. Gerhard shows his findings to Ross, who realizes that the seizures are getting more frequent. She explains that Benson is learning to initiate seizures involuntarily because the result of these seizures is a shock of pleasure, which leads to him having more frequent seizures. She then finds out that Benson has evaded the police officer assigned to guard him and escaped from the hospital.
Ross goes to Benson's house, but instead finds two girls who say he has a gun and blueprints for the basement of University Hospital, where the computer mainframe is located. Ellis searches at a strip club where Benson, who is fascinated with all things sexual, spends a lot of time, but fails to find him. Morris goes to the firm where Benson is employed, and there meets Benson's boss who tells him that Benson disliked University Hospital because of its ultra-modern computer system, an upgraded IBM System/360 which the hospital had obtained during "Watershed Week," when the total information-handling capacity of all the world's computers exceeded that of all the world's human brains.
Ross is contacted by Los Angeles Police Captain of Detectives John Anders, a homicide detective who had found Benson's dogtag at the murder scene of Angela Black. (She proves to have been a dancer with the real name of Doris Blankfurt.) After answering questions at the police station, Ross goes home. Benson arrives at her house, and has a seizure, which causes him to attack Ross. Ross manages to turn on her microwave oven, which disrupts the atomic pacemaker in his shoulder. He runs away. Ross goes back to the hospital and goes to sleep. When Blankfurt/Black is brought back to the hospital for autopsy, pathologists find a book of matches that have the name of an airport hotel. Morris goes to this airport hotel, where Benson had first been arrested for assault and battery, and a bartender says he saw Benson an hour ago leaving with Joe, who took him to the hangar. Morris goes to this hangar and finds Joe severely beaten. He is in turn attacked by Benson, who smashes the lower part of his face in with a steel pipe and then flees.
Ross, back at the hospital, is awakened by Gerhard. She has a call from Benson. When Anders traces the call he realizes that Benson is inside the hospital. Gerhard's and Richards's computers begin to malfunction, as if somebody was disturbing the mainframe. Anders and Ross go down into the basement in search of Benson. Anders locates Benson and has a brief firefight, injuring and disarming Benson before becoming lost in the maze of corridors. Benson goes back to the computer room to finish shutting down the computer mainframe and finds Ross. Ross picks up Benson's gun, Benson returns to the computer and goes to steal the gun from Ross. After an intense, tearful internal struggle, Ross finally shoots and kills Benson unintentionally.
This book could be associated with the Essential Standard Bio 3.3.3, which is "Evaluate some of the ethical issues surrounding the use of DNA technology (including cloning, genetically modified organisms, stem cell research, and Human Genome Project)." This book is related to this standard because many ethical issues are raised with a project that could be called "mind control". Many people around the globe doesn't think it's right to try to alter/control a natural, human process (in this case it would be the way Benson's brain worked and how they used the electrodes to stop certain functions of it) with technology. People would say that if we weren't born with a computer to help us out in our everyday lives, then it doesn't belong in our bodies. There is a large gap there between morally right and morally wrong. In the book, Dr. Ross did not think it was right for these people to do the operation. Some of it was because she knew the effects wouldn't be good and some of it was because she didn't believe it was 100% right. It turned out that Dr. Ross was correct, the effects of the operation were not something to be praising the doctors for. This project that the doctors at the NPS conducted could be closely related to projects like The Human Genome Project and it really comes down to whether or not you as a person believes in these projects that, in future with more research, could help to save millions of lives worldwide.
Branden