NEVERHUMAN AGAIN
July 2020, Uppsala, Sweden
Aboutthe author
MehranSalehpour is an AssociateProfessor in physicsfrom Uppsala University, Sweden. Hehas worked for many years within theinterdisciplinaryfield of biomedical physicsand wasone of the pioneersinthe then-new fieldofprotein massspectrometry. He receivedaPh.D. in Nuclear/IonPhysics from Uppsalauniversity at theage of 25 andhas worked as aresearcherinboththe USAand Sweden. He haspublishedover80peer-reviewedpapers in internationalscientificjournals, includingthe highest-rankedones suchasNature, Science, and Cell. He hasalsobeenawarded a prize from theEuropeanPhysicalSociety foroutstandingresearch. He wasborninTehran,Iranin1960. APersian father anda German mother facilitatedinsightintothe arbitrariness of culturesand ways of life.Hemoved to Englandwhenhewas fourteen to do O-Levelsand A-Levels,whichwerelater complementedwith aB.Sc. in physicsfromthe University of Sussex
After adoctorate anda fewyears of research in theUSA,heleftthe
academic life for eighteen yearsand workedinthe industryfor over fifteen years as among others,Managing Director, before going back to research. He hasalsobeenknown forverylong lunchesand taking acoupleofyears of vacationata time.All hisoccupations so farseemed ratherserious,and he is currently trying to find something less sombertodo. He is married, hasfourchildren, andlives in Sweden.
January 2057
Jonas Frostwas late. Again. Butthistime, hereallydidn’twanttobelate. Sara, hisex-wife, wasalready very irritatedwith him,tosay the least. Andarrivinglatealwaysgot her going. His twochildrendidn’tcare andthought it wasa bitcharming,him being aprofessor.But with mompresent, they didn’t find that amusingatall as shewould probablyend up pickingonhim forthe rest of theevening, andhe would respond.So, Jonaswould be arriving at hisex-wife’s house with the odds againsthim:three to one. He hadbetterthink of a good excuse. He parked hisbicycle,tookout hisbag from the basket,and rang thedoorbell. Sara opened thedoorwithone of her
irritatedlooks. “The mother of my children,how lovely youlook tonight!”hesaid, alittle toocheerfully. Whathegot in return was, “You arelate. Again.”
He thenexclaimed comically,“My offsprings, my joys of life!”and cuddledthem. He then gave awinebottle to Karl anda soda with acartoon character labeltoAnna. “Insix years, you canhelpuswith the wine,tinyone,” he then went on,“Sorry, Iam late.I forgot thetime,”hedecided to be honest.Hegot anotherlook darted at himfromSara. He askedSarahow things were goingatwork, to whichshe replied, “Same, same.Samples in andresults out.Not very challengingintellectually.But thedemands aresky-high. We are running at full capacity.Mostlyblood andexcrement samples; always somethingtolookforward to.”
Jonassat on the sofa,holdingAnna’shand and stretching hislonglegs. “Well,tellme, howare things withthe world of medicine?” he askedKarl.
“Itwas alot of fun until we startedwiththe anatomycourse. It is dead boring.Hundredsofnames of various partsthatI didn’t even know existed,” said Karl with asigh.
“Well,lookat it as your future vocabularysothat youcan communicate. Imagine talkingtoyourprofessor andsaying, thepatienthas an inflammation of the thingy-bob behindthe giggly lookingthing at thebackofthe mouth. That wouldnot be very clear, woulditnow,” andtheyall laughed.
“You areright,dad. Ijusthavetoget through it,” admittedKarl. Sara servedsomewinefor thegrown-ups andthe sodafor Anna.
“And my favorite twelve-year-oldprincess, how are things in school?”askedJonas.
Anna tooka sipofher sodaand looked at hermom andthensaid, “ItisOK, exceptthatnow andthenitgetsquite noisy andhecticwith some kids.Itisdifficult to concentrateonwhatthe teachers aresaying.”
“Yes.”
“You mean withthe H-types,darling?”asked Jonas.
Anna againlooked at hermom and whispereda
Jonas movedclosertoher andput hisarm around herand almost whispered, “Sweetheart, youdon’t need to feel bad aboutsayingthat. H-enterotypesare H-enterotypes; they are Hyper perdefinition, that is theway they are- you arenot judgmental.They sometimes have problemsconcentrating.Well, Ishouldsay we sometimes have problemsconcentrating.It is very annoying for
others. Youknowhow Ican occasionally be.But Iama grownup, andI know howtodeal with it, butfor kids,itisdifficult.You are lucky that youhavemildsymptomsasa Hyper.”
“Haveyou heardabout thenew schoolsopening up forthe H- and G-enterotypesnextterm?”asked Karl.
“Yes,indeed. Twoofeach, butthatisjustthe start. Ihave putAnnaonthe waitinglist. Until then,wejustneedtobe patientand do thebestwecan.All right,pumpkin?” Jonaslooked at Anna lovingly, whowas fiddling with herlongblond hair.
Sara nodded at Anna, whowenton, “And theGenterotypes. They canbealittlescary.A fewofthemget furious sometimes andstartscreamingand throwing things around in class or theplayground.And it is freakywhentheytalktopeoplewho are notthere.” Jonaslooked at Sara andAnnaand then at Karl.He looked seriousand concerned
“Look, Iknowthe situationisnot very good.And, especially theG-enterotypes, some of them arequite sick.WhenI wasa kid, we used to callthemschizophrenic,and they didnot normally mixwithnormalpeople.The severe cases livedin hospitals or care homesmostofthe time.Now we live in special times. We onlyfound out about thedifferent enterotypesa few years ago, andweare adjusting as best as we can. It is thesameall over, on thestreet, in theshops,atworkatthe university- rightKarl, right Sara?” whonodded sympathetically.“Things arechangingslowly, andweare in themiddleofit. Hopefully,nextterm, youcan start school with people like yourself,and things will be much better.All right,darling?”
Shenoddedhesitantly andthen asked, “Dad, how were things when youwenttoschool?”
Jonas settledbackinhis seat andthrew alookat Sara,asking forsupport,and went on,“Well,where do Ibegin?OK, thecity, thestreets,the cars,buses,buildings andall looked pretty
much thesameasnow,exceptone thing. When you went outduring theday, youwould seeold people everywhere.With old, Imean, really old; over60but even 70-, 80-or90-year-oldswalking with a dogorwitha walker on wheelsorjustsitting on park benches.They hada soothing effect on everyone as they were neverina hurryand lovedtalkingtothe young people.Most otherpeople were healthy andnormal.”
“How aboutthe school,dad,was it different then?”
Anna wantedtoknow.
“Well,whenwewentto school,mostkidswere carefree kids whojustplayedand hadfun.Ofcourse, therewere always theodd ones here andthere whowerenasty or very noisy, butmost kids were just fine.The same with the teachers.Wehad someteachers whowerealittle grumpy or strict,but nothinglike now.”
Sara,cut in,“Butalready then we hadspecial schoolsfor kids whodid notfeel well whohad symptoms similarto theG-enterotypes,orthe C-enterotypes. Butthere were very few. Very fewindeed.”
“Daddy,willI grow up andbecomeold?Willyou be therefor my children?” Jonasgaveher anothercuddle andsaid, “I will be there,darling. Don’tworry.” Sara lookeddown. **
Hans Borg satdownonhis favorite bench overlookingthe children’splaygroundnear hischurch. He hadhis lunchbox,which he hadprepared in themorningbeforegoing to work. Meatballs and sesamerolls; it made adelightfulchangefromhis normal hamand cheese roll. Thesun wasout,the birdswerechirping, andthe kids
were playing. He stretchedhis neck,combedhis blond hair,and got comfortable. Hewas goingtoenjoy this.
People would normallyreact to amiddle-aged man sittingneara children’s playground,but he hadhis clerical shirtwith atab collar,and that made allthe difference. He looked harmless. He wasnot athreattothe children.Heoften got smiles from parents whofeltgoodtohavea priest nearby Hans startedtoeat hisrolland looked at the children. He enjoyedbeing near them.Unlikethe adults,they seemedsopureand innocent- andtheyhad no scarsfromlife’s worst enemy:aging. Theway they moved, andthe waytheytalked, lackedthe heavyburden of adults whose postures revealed alifefull of unwelcomeduties, conflicts, andworries.And theeyeswereso clearand vibrantcomparedtothe troubledeyesofthe grownups, someofwhichwerealmostscary to look at as if staringintoa deep dark abyss, reflectingthe soul
Thesoul. That was akeyword.How he hadbeen tormented by this;by his dilemma. Is there aGod,really? He had worked as apriestfor twenty years, convincing so many people that, yes, there is aGod.But he hadnever been able to convince himself. On thecontrary,since themajor changesafterthe last damned virus pandemic sevenyears ago, he hadbecomeevenmoreswayedthat thebible didnot make anysense at all. He,ofcourse, kept this allto himself, butwhathepreachedwas simply nonsense.Who,intheir right mind, couldbelieve that theearth is 6000 yearsold?How aboutevolution? Andall themiracles? He felt likea charlatan standinginfrontofall thepeopleinthe church,tellingthemall thesestories- andthisiswhattheyare,stories-and that Jesus performedall thesemiraclesand that he wasthe sonofGod.What amazed himwas thepeople’s need to believe. Youcould tell them anything. They would just sitthere facing himwithtrustingeyesand take in everything he said. He sometimesfeltlikescreaming at the people:“Come on,wakeup, you sheep! Youcannotpossibly believeall this.” But he neverdid.Ever.Peopleseemed to have an urge to believeinsomething bigger thanthemselves. It is thesame
alloverthe world. Allthe religionsoriginate from thesame problem. You simply have to leaveyourlogic behind and just believe. Therehavebeenthousands of gods, worshippedbytrue believers, andeachand everyone believed sincerely that theirGod is the one-and-only true one.
He remembered meetingother priests, Imams, Buddhist monks, andrabbis. They allseemedsoconvinced about theirGod andtheir scripture. Why couldn’thebelikethem? But surely, they cannot allberight unless thereare many godsout there.
No,itdoesn’t make sense.Theymustalsohavedoubts.Justlike him, they go outday afterday,pretendingtobea believer,but deep inside,theymust know. Buthe, himself, wasa very convincing priest;thatisconvincingothers.
He felt he wasa fraud sincemanyyears ago,but this didnot make himanevil person. Quite the reverse, he had done alot of good sincehestarted to work in thechurch. Afterhe received his theological educationand thepastoraltrainingatthe
Three decades of continual polypandemic more or lesseradicatedthe weak and the elderly,and finally,throughvaccination, the worldpopulationachieved viral immunity.The society changedsignificantlyover this period. The last pandemic,caused by the AGIS-CoV-1virus (Acute Gastrointestinal Syndrome CoronaVirus-1),initiallyseemed similar to the previous ones,a mutation of the original,attackingspecific combinationoforgans.Thisparticular strain affected the intestinal tract,radicallychanging thegut microbiota.The symptoms,however, seemedmild, and the virus was deemed as unthreatening at the time.
Even thoughthe virus was notdeadly, the aftermath altered society completely The human microbiota was depleted severelyasa result of the virus attack. Most gut bacteria types were destroyed, except some with specificmutations. Dependingonthe hostmicroflora compositionafter the infection,several classesofbehavioral responses were observed, leavingthe human host dominatedbyonly afew types of bacterial-rather than hundreds previously. Thedrastically altered humangut microbiota transformed the host’s neurotransmitter biochemistryinthe brain,leavingpersonal traits identified with the bacterialtypes.Six majorgroupsinsociety coexisted. The groups differednot only in the gutbacterial compositionbut also by significant differences in behavior,leadingtoa society differentiatedintosubclasses. The impacteffected the politicalsystemand led to the formation of anew religion.
Dr.Jonas Frost, acellbiologist,belonged to the Hyper-class, knownfor their typical hyperactivity and intensity.Hewas on the vergeofmakingan extraordinary discovery. Thebacteriahad established accesstothe Homosapien brain and were modifying, notonlythe human behavior but also thegenome for anew humanspecies:The HomoU-Enteroensis.
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