Chapter 37 A Bouquet for Algernon - Office of Psychology

A Bouquet for Algernon - Office of Psychology Progress report 15 "July 12" When I entered the psychology office, Nemur, Strauss, Bert, and some other researchers who participated in the project were already waiting for me.Although they tried to ease the atmosphere of the meeting, I could see that Bert was eager to take Algernon back, so I hurriedly handed Algernon back to him.The others didn't speak, Nima obviously couldn't understand me skipping him and directly contacting people from the Foundation, but I had to do this because I had to make sure that the Foundation was willing to let me carry out independent research before returning to the laboratory. Research.If I have to get Nima's understanding for everything, I will waste a lot of time.

The foundation has informed Nima that he will make me a full member of the research project.There was no expression on his face as he held out his hand to congratulate me. "Charlie, you're welcome back to work with us. Jason has called to tell me that the Foundation has accepted you into the project. You're welcome throughout the lab and here. We've been assured by the people at the computer center , will allow you to use the equipment there first. Of course, if there is a place where I can help..." Although he tried to appear welcoming, the expression on his face revealed suspicion.I can understand his mentality. After all, he has no experience in experimental psychology. How can he understand the technique that he spent several years researching.As I said, he tried his best to show his enthusiasm, and there is a reason for his reluctance to comment on me, so now he has nothing to say to me.Because if I don't mention to him now the reasons for Algernon's behavior, it will slow down his whole research work.However, if I solve the problem, his whole team will come to me.

When I entered Burt's lab, he was watching Algernon navigate the multiple-problem maze.He sighed when he saw me, shook his head and said: "It has forgotten a lot of things, and it seems to have lost a lot of complex response capabilities, which is different from what I expected. It has now switched to a more primitive way to solve problems." "Which side are you referring to?" I asked. "It used to be able to sum up simple patterns very quickly. Take the door-breaking game as an example. It can open every second or third door, or just look for the red door to open, but it can't do it now. Trial and error all three times."

"Is this phenomenon due to leaving the laboratory for too long?" "Probably, let's get used to it now and see how it goes tomorrow." I have been to this laboratory many times, but the purpose of each visit is different from this one.I came here today with a learning mentality, and I had to absorb in a few days what it took others years to learn.Burt spent a total of four hours today helping me familiarize myself with the entire workflow.Near the end of work, I saw a door in the lab that I hadn't noticed before. "What's in it?" I asked. "Freezers and incinerators." He pushed open the heavy door and turned on the lights to let me in. "We will freeze the specimens before cremation and incineration. After embalming, the odor can be reduced." After he finished speaking, he was about to turn around and leave, but I still stood there for a while.

"I hope Algernon won't be thrown in here." I said, "If... when the time comes... I mean, if Algernon dies unfortunately, give it to me and don't throw it in here, okay? Myself Deal with it." Burt didn't smile, he just nodded, because Nima had told him that he would agree to whatever I asked from now on. Currently, time is my biggest obstacle.If I wanted to find out what was wrong with me, I had to get to work right away.I had piles of book lists from Bert, and a bunch of notes from Neymar and Strauss.When I walked out of the laboratory, I suddenly had an idea, so I asked Nima: "Just now I visited the incinerator that handles experimental animals. I was wondering, did you also arrange a way out for me?"

Hearing my question, his expression changed drastically. "What does it mean?" "I suppose you've thought about all possible contingencies since the beginning of the experiment, haven't you? What will happen to me in the future?" He was silent, and I continued to ask: "I have the right to know everything related to the experiment, including my own future, right?" "Yes, you have reason to know." He paused, and unconsciously lit his already lit cigarette again. "I believe you also understand that from the beginning of the experiment, we had the highest hopes for the results of the experiment, and now we still believe, I mean we are very sure..."

"I believe that," I said. "Of course, we have to take a lot of responsibility for letting you participate in this experiment. I don't know how much you remember about the initial stage of the experiment? Can you piece together some things? We told you at the time that the effect of the operation is likely to be It's temporary and won't last long." "I remember writing about it in the progress report," I agree, "though I didn't quite know what those words really meant at the time, but it doesn't matter anymore because now I do."

"So, we decided to try it with you," he continued, "because we feel that the experiment will not harm you anyway, but if it succeeds, it will bring you a lot of benefits." "No more excuses for that," I said. "But you have to understand that before the experiment started, we had your family's permission. At that time, you couldn't make up your own mind." "I know about it. You have been to my sister Norma, and I have read about it in the papers. As far as I can remember of her, I can imagine that she would agree to your operation."

When he heard me say this, he raised his eyebrows a little, but then lowered them immediately. "We told her at the time that if the operation fails, we are not going to send you back to the bakery or where you lived before." "why not?" “One of those things is that you might not be able to go back to the way you were before because of the side effects of the procedure and the hormone injections that might not be immediately apparent. Another thing is that what you go through after the surgery leaves a mark on you. What I mean by that is that the emotional distress that surgery can have can add to the complexity of the mental retardation, so that you may not be able to go back to the way you were before."

"Great, like a pawn in the river!" "In addition, we have no way of knowing whether your psychological level will remain the same after the operation fails, or it may degenerate to a relatively primitive reaction function." He tried to let me read his mind for myself to see the worst. "While I still have a chance to ask you, why don't you let me ask you all about the situation now. What arrangements have you made for me?" He shrugged and said, "The foundation arranged to send you back to the Warren Foster Home and Training School." "what?"

"In the contract we signed with your sister, there is a clause that the expenses incurred in the foster home will be borne by the foundation, and you will also receive a fixed monthly fee as a living allowance. This money It's a lifetime payment." "Why did you choose there? I have always been able to live independently outside! After Uncle He Man died, although I was sent to the Warren Foster Home, Mr. Donner immediately picked me up to work in his shop. Why? Send me back there?" "If you can live outside on your own, you don't have to go back to Warren Foster Home. If the situation is not too bad, you can still live in the outside world. We just prepare for you first, just in case." His arrangement is correct, I have nothing to complain about, after all, he has considered everything, and living in the Warren Foster Home is a very reasonable arrangement, but as long as I think that I may spend the rest of my life there, my heart There was a chill in the depths. "At least it won't be thrown into the incinerator," I said. "what?" "It's nothing, it's just a little joke, don't mind." After I finished speaking, I suddenly thought of something, so I asked him: "Can I visit the Warren House, I mean go there as a visitor." "It shouldn't be a problem. There will always be people visiting them. It's an activity to expand interpersonal relationships, but why do you want to visit?" He seemed impatient with my request, as if I was ordering a coffin for the afterlife, but I can't blame him, because he didn't understand the importance of finding out who I really am--part of knowing the future and the past. Possibilities, I have to know where I am going and what the past is.While we both knew that the other end of the maze represented death (didn't know much about it before—not long ago, when I was a teenager, I always thought that death only happened to other people.) But I know better than he does The path I choose to walk represents the meaning of my existence.I am not only a living thing, but a being—a being who can exist in many ways—knowing the path I have chosen and knowing that taking that path will help me in the future. That night and the next few days, I immersed myself in the field of psychology, reading a lot about clinical medicine, personality, psychometry, learning, experimental psychology, animal psychology, physiological psychology, behaviorism, morphological psychology and psychoanalytic, functional, dynamic, organizational and all modern and ancient schools of thought and research and systems of thought.After reading for days, it's rather disappointing that many psychologists base their belief systems about human intelligence, memory, and learning on wishful thinking. Fee told me she wanted to visit the lab, but I told her not to come.I can't let her meet Alice here, and I've got so much to worry about now that I can't let this add up.