III.
10th November 1971
…then woke up suddenly, all sweaty.
The artificial light, which automatically lit up at 7 am, illuminated and gave a little warmth to the cold and aseptic environment of the room. The reason for that terrible dream was unexplained. «A very ugly death that of Descartes» – he thought to himself. He stood up and immediately took the white coat he had put on the chair. He wore it, then went to the bathroom to rinse his face and recover and wash off the restless feeling, almost like the drool of the evil genius dreamed. He looked in the mirror and tried to reset everything to face a new day of work there at MER.
The research of the MER Institute (an acronym for Mind & Reality), located in a secret location in the United States, was designed and carried out by a group of scientists who pursued ambitious ideas, but unorthodox and, above all, without moral references: the “good” of science and progress first. This is their motto.
Dr Henry Miller had been working there for some years and in those weeks he was struggling with the final phase of an experiment: scientists had managed to keep a brain alive in a vat and had succeeded in observing its functioning. The head of that research was Henry, assisted by another Italian doctor and philosopher, Dr Renato Della Torre.
By experiments, scientists had managed to make the brain perceive a reality that did not really exist. The organ projected on a PC screen what were its “visions”: people, objects, the sky etc., flowed, but the experience of that brain was in all and for all the result of the electronic impulses traveling from the computer to the nerve endings of the brain which floated quietly in a tank. The aim of this research was to deconstruct the concept of reality: a real experiment in the Cartesian hypothesis of the evil genius. And maybe one day to check people’s brains. Of course, all for the sake of science and technology.
«Perhaps – thought Henry, while still looking in the mirror – the reason for that nightmare
is precisely the research that is about to be concluded».
It must have been just that. He smiled and opened the door to room 13. The hustle and bustle of daily work woke him completely and immediately introduced him to the reality of his ambitious project.
«Good morning» – he said, addressing one of his collaborators.
«Good morning, doctor. Did you sleep well?».
«Eh… not so much».
«He will sleep tonight. We are almost at the end of our experiment».
Henry looked satisfied at his machine and saw, with a strange smile on his face, the brain floating in the tub, with countless wires connected to the nerve endings. On a big screen passed one after another countless images.
«Where is Renato?» – he asked with a vaguely distracted tone.
«I don’t know».
«Strange».
«Yes, it’s true…».
The two continued for a few minutes to fix cables and, in the meantime, took notes on what was happening to the brain. Suddenly, the careful and disturbing work they were doing was interrupted by a woman’s cries.
All went in unison, like a group of robots, towards the woman who was on the threshold of room 7, Renato’s room.
Giovanni Covino
[To be continued…]
Briciole filosofiche 
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