Giveaway Time

     I warned my Gentle Readers that I’d be moving somewhat away from political blogging, at least doing less of it. So please don’t be too put out by the increasing frequency of posts related to fiction, faith, and other (hopefully) non-political subjects.

     Today’s post is for other fiction writers, as I find that I have an idea to give away. I have too many to exploit, so why not leave them for others who might find them appealing? And this one strikes me as unusually fertile.

     It’s essentially this: a researcher, at first involved in the search for a way to record memories directly from the brain, happens upon a technique for transferring pain from one person to another. The donor – i.e., the person previously experiencing the pain – loses it; the receptor – i.e. the person who will suffer in the donor’s place – gets it instead.

     Clearly, this would be a valuable service. Many a donor would pay handsomely for such relief. And, as Mankind is full of all types of people, there would be many willing receptors... if you were to pay them enough. The company’s revenue, if any, would be in the difference between the fee paid by donor and the one paid to the receptor.

     But donor and receptor must be linked to the device simultaneously. Thus, commercial viability requires skill not only in finding desperate donors and willing receptors, but in matching them and getting them together. It’s here that the complexities arise, for several reasons:

• Not all receptors are willing to accept every kind of pain, regardless of intensity.
• Not all donors can pay enough to attract a receptor willing to endure the pain for a slightly lower fee.
• Donor and receptor will probably be most willing if neither knows the other’s identity.
• They must be “co-schedulable:” i.e., available at the same times, and with all money matters agreed.

     Those are merely the immediate practical problems. They can be solved, with a little work. But the second-order effects would be far more troublesome:

• Medical insurance companies will be pressed to cover the “treatment.”
• Donors will want it to be covered by Medicare.
• “Victim” groups will agitate for free or deeply discounted access. (“It’s our right!”)
• Some donors will claim that their pain returned; therefore they’ll sue for a refund.
• The federal government will seek to regulate or nationalize the device.
• Foreign governments will claim it “should” be available worldwide – and for free.

     That’s probably not the end of the list. But it’s still early in the morning.

     Anyone who thinks he can do justice to the possibilities that flow from such a device is welcome to use the above. It’s yours for free, though an acknowledgement in your Afterword would be nice. And as I wrote this, a new possibility occurred to me: What if the pain-transference device cannot be duplicated? What would follow from that?

     The world is full of untold stories, Gentle Reader. One is probably floating your way as you read this. Grab it and tell it!