TEST PATTERN
At the sound of the second buzzer the experiment would begin.
The room was uncomfortably warm.
He was told that subjective measures of his physical and emotional state were to be taken via electric pulse sensors.
Kneeling on the hardwood floor, hooked up and dosed, he presses his nose against the television. He then presses his ear to it listening for the vibration of the vacuum tube and the popping of the ion canons. He visualizes the nature of the magnets and conductive plates as they accelerate electrons through a high voltage difference, a series of electromagnets then guide the charged particles toward specific points at the far end of the tube where they meet the phosphorous coating on the screens surface and become light.
The dilator muscle of the iris relaxes causing his pupil to widen. He is observed via one-way mirror as accelerating images are projected upon his retina.
After a moment, he begins to feel incredibly unwell. He doesn’t know whether this was an anticipated side effect of the treatment. He looks away from the screen and overcome with epileptic tension jerks himself violently onto his back. From this position, with his eyes closed, the space lapsed into infinite contours, transcribed synaptic constructions that resemble the object on the screen and the screen itself.
He is told that the experiment requires that he continue.
He looks back to the television. There was a smudge near the center where he had smeared his own protoplasm across the glass.
The space between him and the screen shone in glorious technicolor. He moved ever closer, his cold-cut curiosity deepening into arousal.
At 60 frames per second the picture changed ever rolling
footage - black, white and full colour projections - bare hands battling brick in Berlin - a troop of tanks tearing through Tiananmen, a death at the Ponte De l’Amar!
Scratching at the rounded pads which had been placed on his temples, neck, and wrists, he became superimposed between dates and facts rolling into cracked footage of huge detonations and frosty Russian military bases.
*
After several hours, and several more doses of the synthetic hallucinogenic compound, the optimal state is induced and the subject is presented with a three dimensional object. At this point, due to the exposure to the revised narrative constructions and his induced condition, it will appear to the subject that he is presented with an object consisting of two dimensions.
In the primary tests all observers used perceptually interpolated constructions to perform shape discrimination tasks. Through hallucinatory optical juxtaposition these stimuli produced illusory contours for subjects. This was, in part, because the illusory ‘two dimensional’ object had the same brightness as the background. But, it was also due, in part, to other factors which the researchers wished to test. It is estimated that the subject’s acute response to stimuli and high susceptibility to news narratives will render him unable to perceive in three dimensions for 10-14 hours.
The subject shows visible signs of distress representative of the dissonance between sense and perception. Shot to fade, his face to the screen - cheeks fizzing with static - his nose a crumpled origami swan.
by Daniel Harlow
Daniel Harlow is not the author's real name. He is a writer based in the UK and is the founder and contributing editor of Fugitives & Futurists.