The book Blood Music by Greg Bear
The book Blood Music, Greg Bear, suggests that with scientific technology, it was possible to interfere with the natural order of human beings. He creates the character Vergil Ulam who is a researcher and conducts advanced biological developments. He uses music to appeal to the audience where the cells injected into Ulam’s body begin to converse with the infected people and sing a well. The scientific experiment in the book goes wrong but is produced classically by Bear, referring to the conversations with the lymphocytes as ‘blood music.’ Blood music appears to show scientific, technological advancements in that Ulam was able to create a nanoscale civilization that increased strength, posture, eyesight, and intelligence of the infected individual. With nanotechnology, it was possible to modify the DNA program and the noocytes. The modification would then lead to enhancement of the body capabilities, which is referred to as nanotechnology. However, the book reveals the dangers of scientific hubris and the possible cost of tinkering with the natural order. After Ulam injects his body with the lymphocytes, the microorganisms replicate and begin to evolve. Ulam’s organs start to modify with the evolution of the lymphocytes. The book reveals the theme of the scientific experiment on nanotechnology going incredibly wrong.
Scientific hubris can lead to the creation of a global epidemic and spread of fear around the world. The scientific mind that creates the biological advancements in the book, Ulam, is brilliant and believes in obtaining results through his research projects. He is not bothered by the potential ethical issue that would arise from his work and continues to perform experiments to create microorganisms that were able to learn. The scientific tests by Ulam are considered dangerous, and he is henceforth fired from his job. Ulam is over-confident in his project, and despite being ordered to destroy the products he had created, he injects them into his body. By the time he was informing Edward Milligan of the situation he was encountering with the modifications in his bod, he had already infected his girlfriend and the possibility of many others. Ulam had realized that the lymphocytes had developed the capacity to migrate outside his body and spread their biologic to other different cells. The evolution of the noocytes causes Vergil Ulam’s body to modify and later transforms him into shapeless biomass. Ulam’s creation was epidemic, and Milligan killed him in efforts to stop the spread. The infection developed and spread in North America, and the noocytes developed a sentimental community. The noocytes are spread even through handshaking and bring a lot of chaos throughout the United States. There were terrified protesters who wanted to kill Bernard to stop the spread of the infection into Europe.
The researcher had confidence in his scientific experiment, which led to his death and a disruption in the genetic combination of many infected people. Humanity was threatened, and despite the improvements, it had on the body, it brought uncontrollable changes. The public riots and pursue the murder of Michael Bernard, a researcher who had been infected with the noocytes and fled to Germany. The transfer of the biotechnological infection is chaotic and leads to civil agility and fear. The evolution of the noocytes community leads to enormous consequences for humanity. They are easily infected with other people, concert, and assimilate with humans aggregating into regions that are almost 7,000 kilometers wide. Everybody that was infected with the noocytes was considered dangerous, and isolation was the necessary treatment of the infection. Biotechnology was new for many researchers, and thus, the infected wouldn’t find any answers to the various reactions they had from the noocytes. The characters in the book are unaware of the capabilities of the evolved organisms, and all they do is observe and speculate. Dr. Bernard asks, “Was the noosphere rigid hierarchy, lacking in dissent or even comment?” The character Young Suzy is baffled by the transformation of her family and is forced to wander through the seemingly empty city. The outcome of the intelligent lymphocytes is ultimately dangerous, and the assimilation of the human bodies to the desires of the lymphocytes was entirely threatening. The people are confronted with significant changes.
The catastrophic theme of nanotechnology and biotechnology is evident in Blood Music. The ability of technological advancement to transform people has had various consequences on the natural order of human beings. The injection of the lymphocytes into the human body lead t continuous and fast multiplication and evolution of the organisms. They alter the genetic material and quickly become self-aware. The noocytes develop to have conversations with the infected persons, and some even report that cells seem to sing. The intelligent cells increased at an alarming rate, and the reality became unstable. The evolved noocytes and the assimilated humans are forced to leave the ordinary reality of existence to transform into one that didn’t require any physical matter. The genetic combination of human is specific and sensitive, and casually changing the materials lead to an unexpected outcome. The bio-engineered noocytes gained intelligence and took over the human hosts they had infected. The aim to kill the hosts triggers the scientific bugs and begins to assimilate the bodies. They ultimately become vast, amorphous biomass that contains certain aspects of individualism.
When Ulam visited Milligan, he understood the dangerous implications of the lymphocytes. The doctor began to hear spoken words in his brain by other entities, and his speculations were confirmed when he discovered that Ulam and his girlfriend were converting into strange, shapeless masses of flesh. The altered genes would be spread very quickly through a mere handshake, which showed the genetic capabilities of these technologies. After Michael Bernard, the head of Genetron discovers that he was infected, he flew to Germany and puts himself into isolation. In the laboratory, Bernard is observed by a biologist Heinz Paulsen-Fuchs, who observed the gradual transformation of the genes in Bernard. The genes became self-aware and changed shape, developing a huge thinking community. The cells had suddenly become conscious, and Bernard would commune with the cells inside him. The potential change to alter the universe became exponentially higher. The willingness of Bernard to transform himself and enter his inside world amplified what happened after the assimilation of the body into the shapeless biomass. Individualism is highly maintained as Bernard is treated with respect as he was viewed as one of the creators of the noocytes. There is the endless replication of cells in the blood, and thus people don’t die inside the biomass. The thinking cells increase rapidly and create a community that enters into a realm that was beyond the physical substrate. The technological advancements create new intelligence which changes the ordinary world irrevocably.
The title of the book reveals the significant symbols that recur throughout the novel. The experiment conducted by Edward Milligan showed that there were activities inside Ulam’s body by the lymphocytes. The lymphocytes were knowledgeable of the physical matter enclosing and referred to the action as blood music. The lymphocytes replicated and evolved to allow the transformation and assimilation of the human body. The activities of the cells in the human body created rhythmic sounds and were able to speak to the minds of their hosts. It was only the infected host who could communicate with the noocytes, which was possible to hear words being spoken in the brain. The development and evolution of the lymphocytes is a significant idea in the novel, and thus the specific growth and emergence of the assimilated altered genes become inevitably vital. The observers of the infected persons can only realize the genetic transformation of the body through hearing their internal activities.