Cole

The Secret of the Neurosynths

"Cole, calm down and relax.  You will be fine.  You are fine.  We all care about you a lot and will help you adapt as changes happen to you.  You are very healthy," said Thorne.  "Cole, please relax.  I don't want you to have a panic attack.  There is nothing to fear.  The risky part of the procedure is over and you are doing great."

I didn't think I was doing great at all.  Also, where was Manda supposed to fit in all this?  I was a freak, a monster.  My life was now all screwed up.

Dr. Thorne looked a little exasperated.

"Cole, relax, please.  I will present a few more slides and explain exactly what happened to your head during the operation.  You should be proud of yourself.  You have personally pioneered something new and amazing that will offer help to thousands of people in the future," said Thorne.

Dr. Thorne was fiddling with his laptop and the projector and while doing so made another comment.

"Cole, you are also very wealthy.  Dr. Mos bequeathed his entire 100 million dollar estate to you in a trust fund for your support,  and for the purpose of developing this technology and this program.  It was his belief that eventually a portion of his mind would wake up in your head and be able to use the money and continue with this work.  In other words, Cole, you are expected to eventually become the leader of this whole project! You should be very excited about that."

I was not excited about that at all.  I just wanted to run away to my Adam and Eve retreat with Amanda and hold her in my arms in our nest.  That was all that mattered to me.  It was so peaceful there and like heaven. I was just a kid and didn't want this responsibility.  It was also extremely creepy, but I was trapped and part of it not by choice.

"Ok, Cole, please look at the following slides," said Thorne as he could tell my gaze was wondering around the room and only half paying attention.  Others at the table were beginning to get a little restless.

"Cole, much of what you will see here started with fundamental knowledge that was discovered by Dr. Michael Gazzaniga of the University of California in Santa Barbara more than fifty years ago.  He discovered that the left and the right side of the brain were different and had different functions. The left and right side of the brain are connected by the corpus collosum, which is located directly below the brain halves at the brain stem."

Thorne showed a diagram of the brain of its left and right halves and the corpus colosseum beneath it.

"Gazzaniga found a few individuals that had their corpus colosseum damaged and was able to set up experiments where he could communicate with that person in a controlled way and isolate which side of the brain did what function without one side telling the other side the answers to questions," said Thorne.

"It turned out that the left side of the brain is responsible for analytic thought, logic, language, reasoning, science and math, written communication, and number skills.  The right side of the brain is responsible for art awareness, creativity, imagination, intuition, insight, holistic thought, music appreciation, and spatial awareness'" Thorne continued.

"Gazzaniga also discoved that he could create these individuals with separate left and right brains by cutting the corpus colosseum using a procedure called a corpus callosotomy, which was useful to prevent seizures from spreading from one side of the brain to the other for persons that had this problem.  Today seizure control is done with drugs and imaging is used to determine what areas of the brain does what, but Gazzaniga's work was inspirational and groundbreaking," said Thorne.

"Mos then wondered if it were possible to extend his own life by transferring his brain into a younger person.  The least risky thing was to transfer only half of the brain.  There would be less damage and less to heal.  He decided to have his left side of the brain transferred into your body, Cole, because that part of his brain had most of what he needed to continue his research in a younger body.  He would retain his analytic thought, logic, language, reasoning, science and math, written and number skills and he would give up his creative artistic and imaginative parts," Thorne continued.