    44

    Man

    current.  Now, when a jolt of power hits the floor, he leaps to the switch and

    bangs it emphatically, giving both himself and his neighbor relief.  The rat

    with the switch in his cage remains alert, doing well on tests of his ability to

    solve problems and learn.

    His neighbor, on the other hand, has no switch allowing him to turn off

    the source of his pain.  This rat at first scrambles around his cage frantically

    when the charges sizzle his soles, looking for an escape.  Eventually, his

    panic turns to resignation.  He huddles in a corner, not moving when the

    shock arrives.  If you open the cage door, he will not even try to escape.108

    The rat who becomes the helpless victim goes through disturbing

    changes in the way he sees the world.  Put him in an unfamiliar maze, and he

    will have tremendous difficulty learning its intricacies.  Other observations

    indicate that he doesn't seem to focus on the facts around him clearly

    anymore.

    To protect him against pain, the rat's body has generated the internal

    anesthetic endorphin, which makes the stinging sensation of the electricity

    seem to melt away.  But like its artificial equivalent, morphine, endorphin

    makes reality disappear as well.  For this chemical of mercy soothes by

    blindfolding the senses.109

    Like the rat, we have been hit with a random burst of punishments

    beyond our control.  Could we be seeking relief by closing our eyes to the

    world around us?

    There's a clue that indeed we are.  Our collective eyes and ears, our

    media, still often give us the impression that we are king of the international

    heap. It is a totally erroneous notion.  France's advanced technological

    programs allowed it to create the smart card and the supertrain.  Her

    Aerospatiale sells far more helicopters in Japan than we do.110    Germany's

    BMW holds the lead in developing recyclable auto parts and engines

    powered by alternative fuels.  Europe's Airbus, already ahead of us in the

    commercialization of electronic controls for passenger planes, is planning a

      y shocks later, one of the rats discovers the bar that shuts down the

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