The Persistent Genie

By Tom Lowe

A modern fable prompted by the Septermber 30, 1999 accident at the JCO nuclear fuel plant at the village of Tokaimura, Japan. It began when workers attempted to dissolve 16 kilgrams of enriched uranium in nitric acid, although it is considered dangerous to process more than 2.4kg at one time. This set off an uncontrolled chain reaction, resulting in a 'blue flash' at the processing plant. The reaction punched a hole through the roof of the building, radiation began spewing into the atmosphere, and radiation levels went up to 4,000 times normal levels within a minute. There was no containment around the plant, because it was not thought that an accident like this could happen.

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Once upon a time, there was a group of very intelligent scientists. Using all their scientific skills, they refined some very rare metals from the Earth and made from the metals a lamp of magical powers. As I said, these were very intelligent men and they knew when they were fashioning the lamp that it would have within it a genie of stupendous power, so when they rubbed it, just like Alladin, and the genie appeared, they weren't surprised. Impressed, yes. Even a little scared. The genie was big and glowed a faint red and towered over them.

But then the genie bowed low to the scientists and in a polite voice addressed them:

"Gentlemen," spoke the genie, "you have summoned me and I am ready to do your bidding. Since you are already familiar with my powers, I needn't explain what I am here for and where I came from. I only beg of you to think carefully how you plan to use your three wishes so that you will not later regret your choice."

The scientists had been discussing for a long time what their wishes were to be. One of them approached the genie.

"O Genie," said the first scientist, "the government that is our employer is now engaged in a deadly war with a nation in the East. We need a terrible and awesome weapon with which to defeat the eastern nation and to save the lives of our young men which would otherwise be sent to fight upon the enemy mainland."

"You are asking for a two-edged sword," said the Genie. Think again before you lay this sword upon the world. Once the weapon is used, it will be difficult to keep it just to yourselves. Moreover, the great weapon is indiscriminate -- it kills the innocent as well as the enemy. It will cause great suffering, pain and even death. No one will fail to be touched by it."

"We have thought through all that," said the scientist. "We believe that we can handle the weapon responsibly. Besides, " he continued, "if we do not acquire such a weapon, there is no assurance that other scientists in other countries will not make a lamp and acquire one of their own."

"Very well," sighed the genie. "I will grant your first wish."

The genie waved his hands and there came a huge flash, followed by another flash, and hundreds of thousands of people died in an instant. Not only soldiers in their barracks, though. People died sitting down to dinner. Nursing mothers were incinerated along with their babies. Children peacefully sleeping perished instantly as well as elderly persons sitting quietly, enjoying the evening air. Lovers exchanging endearing words. Priests celebrating communion. All annihilated in the blink of an eye. Thousands of others died slowly and painfully from the heat and radiation.

The scientists were stunned. Many of them felt horribly guilty for having brought such a horrible weapon into the world, but their misgivings were ignored in the euphoria and jubilation of victory. Scientists who expressed their misgivings were ostracised and forbidden to work with the genie.

The genie said nothing through all of this. He floated quietly in the ether, waiting for the second wish. The scientists, if the truth be told, were overwhelmed by the power of the great weapon and even the most hard-boiled of them felt bad over the incineration of all those people. Their second wish, however, would more than make up for the destruction, suffering and fear brought by the first wish. This became even more imperative when, sure enough, the genie's prediction came true, that other nations acquired the weapon and embarked upon an arms race to build rockets which would send the great weapon halfway around the world to wreak its damage on people they regarded as their enemies.

So the scientists were determined to make their second wish a boon for the human race. They conferred and argued and at last decided upon their second wish. They rubbed the lamp and the genie appeared and bowed low before them.

"I am here to grant your second wish," said the genie. "What will it be this time?"

A scientist walked forward. "This time, O Genie," he said "we want unlimited supplies of electric power, too cheap to meter. We want everyone the world over to have all the electricity they want."

The genie frowned. "Before I grant your wish," he said, "you should be warned that, although I can easily grant that for which you ask, there is a cost to be paid, although it may not necessarily be paid through an electric meter. It is not good for people to have all the electrical power they want. It is not good for people to have an unlimited amount of anything that they want. Be certain before you make your second wish final."

The scientists, who now worked for large energy corporations, were clearly annoyed. "O genie, the foremost scientist explained," we have considered the costs and benefits in this matter and carefully evaluated the risks involved and have concluded that in view of the benefits of unlimited electrical power the risks are negligible. The scientist spoke eloquently; he had practiced his speech before congressional committees and had it down pat.

The genie sighed. "Very well. Your wish is granted." And with a wave of his hand electricity flowed through power lines and into homes and factories, although it still passed through meters, to the delight and profit of the energy corporations. People used electricity to heat and cool their homes. They used it to manufacture goods. They bought computers and television sets for their homes and plugged them into the electrical grid.

The scientists did not notice, however, that as time passed, the genie became a little redder and glowed a little brighter, or if they did notice it, they didn't let on. No one came too close to the genie, anyway. Scientists who approached the genie too closely had become sick and some of them even died, so everybody kept their distance and pretended that the genie was safe.

Then the genie started growing in size, and even the scientists started to worry. It was hard to pretend that a gigantic, glowing, unapproachable genie was benign.

Eventually, it was clear to nearly everyone that the genie was dangerous and out of control. He began to overshadow the Earth itself and his dangerous glow was becoming a hazard to all life.

The scientists had one wish remaining. They swallowed hard, for they knew what the last wish would have to be: they would have to ask the genie to leave and never return. They rubbed the lamp and the genie appeared, again bowing low.

Appearing in a thick outfit to protect him from the deadly glow, a scientist addressed the genie: "Our third wish is that you go back into the lamp and never return. We are afraid of you and what will happen to the Earth if you stay around much longer. Forgive us that we are not sufficiently appreciative of your first two gifts. We were unwise and in our intoxication with the power of the lamp did not heed your warnings which we should have known already." The scientist meant to sound contrite, because he wanted the genie to go away without any hard feelings. One couldn't be too careful with genies.

The genie looked saddened. "Unfortunately, I can grant that wish only upon strict conditions. I am too large to go back into the lamp immediately. I must be given a very special home to live in, and I must reside in that home for ten thousand years before I depart. If you mistreat me during those ten thousand years and I find it necessary to leave my dwelling it will go very badly for everyone."

"O Genie," gasped the scientist, "We can't guarantee that level of reliability. There could be wars, or someone could just become careless. The chance of something going wrong is just too great to risk.

"It seems I remember that you told me years ago that you had calculated the cost-benefit ratio. You knew all of this would happen. You knew I would grow and become hotter over the years and would have to be housed in a specially-constructed dwelling. You even knew when you made that lamp that it would be ten thousand years before I could return to it."

"Now didn't you?" sneered the genie, glowing brighter. The scientist hung his head. They had known it all the time. They, the big energy companies which were their employers, and their government had let themselves be seduced by the promise of unlimited power, and had simply refused to think about the certain consequences.

"Is there not something we can do to make it easier," asked the scientist, looking for a ray of hope.

"Nothing, " said the genie. "It's a tough lesson, but you were warned. If the human race survives over the next ten thousand years, perhaps you won't be tempted to deceive yourselves and your leaders with prevarications about cost-benefit analyses. "

The genie looked restless.

"Get moving" he said. "I will be needing new quarters very shortly, otherwise you will not have to build them at all, since you will be dead." And with those words, the genie, glowing fiercely, lay down and took a nap.

Copyright Thomas Lowe, 1999. All rights reserved. Published in The Jackson Progressive, http://www.jacksonprogressive.com. Noncommercial reproduction of this story in its entirety is authorized, provided that this notice accompanies any reproduction.