Movies - The Terminal Man

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	Movies - The Terminal Man

The Terminal Man is a novel by Michael Crichton. It was later made into the film of the same name.

Many of Crichton's works have been bestsellers and his most well-known works are those books that have been turned into films such as Jurassic Park
, Sphere, and Congo. The Terminal Man was also made into a film, but unlike his other novels adapted to film, it was never very popular. It was published in 1972, and it is rather a significant work in what the novel addressed: the immediate dangers of mind control.

Synopsis

To give perspective, the author gives a timeline of developments in behavior modification. He attempts to tell the reader that such active research in behavior modification isn't something that could be a threat in the future; he cites examples of how it is occurring now, specifically in regard to trying to curtail psychomotor epilepsy.

This is where his novel, and main character, really begins. Harry Benson, an unimpressively characterized man in his 30s, is a sufferer of psychomotor epilepsy and the character around which the novel centers and derives its name. He often has seizures, periods of blackout, and he then wakes up hours later to unfamiliar surroundings with no knowledge of what he's done. The book begins with Benson in the third stage of the disorder, and he is a prime candidate for an operation to implant electrodes and minicomputer in his brain to control the seizures. Surgeons Ellis and Morris are to perform the surgery, which is unprecedented for the time.

The ramifications of the procedure are questioned from the beginning, naturally, by psychiatrist Janet Ross, and they are ominously echoed by an emeritus professor named Manon at the lecture about the surgery. Manon raises concerns that Benson is psychotic (pointing to Benson's adamant belief that there is no difference between man and machine) and the crimes he commits during the blackouts won't be curtailed because the operation is anything but a cure for psychomotor epilepsy. Ellis admits that what they are doing isn't a cure but just a way to stimulate the brain when the computer senses a seizure coming on.

Once the operation is complete, it takes only two days for Benson to breakout of the hospital (and there are suggestions that the breakout was premeditated before admission for surgery). After the breakout, there is a race to find Benson before he commits any heinous crimes. Manon seems to be right about certain things and the tale turns into a cautionary one of mixing a psychotic man capable of violence with computers and producing an efficient, computer-directed psychotic man with violent strains.

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