44
Man
current.  Now, when a jolt of power hits the floor, he leaps to the switch and
bangs it emphatically, giving both himself and his neighbor relief.  The rat
with the switch in his cage remains alert, doing well on tests of his ability to
solve problems and learn.
His neighbor, on the other hand, has no switch allowing him to turn off
the source of his pain.  This rat at first scrambles around his cage frantically
when the charges sizzle his soles, looking for an escape.  Eventually, his
panic turns to resignation.  He huddles in a corner, not moving when the
shock arrives.  If you open the cage door, he will not even try to escape.108
The rat who becomes the helpless victim goes through disturbing
changes in the way he sees the world.  Put him in an unfamiliar maze, and he
will have tremendous difficulty learning its intricacies.  Other observations
indicate that he doesn't seem to focus on the facts around him clearly
anymore.
To protect him against pain, the rat's body has generated the internal
anesthetic endorphin, which makes the stinging sensation of the electricity
seem to melt away.  But like its artificial equivalent, morphine, endorphin
makes reality disappear as well.  For this chemical of mercy soothes by
blindfolding the senses.109
Like the rat, we have been hit with a random burst of punishments
beyond our control.  Could we be seeking relief by closing our eyes to the
world around us?
There's a clue that indeed we are.  Our collective eyes and ears, our
media, still often give us the impression that we are king of the international
heap. It is a totally erroneous notion.  France's advanced technological
programs allowed it to create the smart card and the supertrain.  Her
Aerospatiale sells far more helicopters in Japan than we do.110    Germany's
BMW holds the lead in developing recyclable auto parts and engines
powered by alternative fuels.  Europe's Airbus, already ahead of us in the
commercialization of electronic controls for passenger planes, is planning a
  y shocks later, one of the rats discovers the bar that shuts down the
<<  <  GO  >  >>