Short story: 'Program Yourself'

Here's a quirky little short story about what might happen when we can control our own dopamine and serotonin levels by way of brain implants. It's a concise little tour of one possible outcome, in which consciousness takes an unexpected evolutionary turn:

“All eight implants also regulate baseline or so called ‘tonic’ electrical activity in their target cells. For dopamine we call this program Focus. People perform best when their dopamine concentrations are at an optimum level for the task at hand and most of us experience daily problems maintaining sufficient dopamine levels; maintaining concentration. Focus works similarly to the stimulants children are prescribed for ADHD, but it’s cleaner and more flexible and can be turned off, which means fewer side effects. The analogous program for serotonin we call AntiDep because it works like SSRI antidepressants. If you’re depressed or chronically anxious, chances are you were born with an underdeveloped serotonin system or its growth was stunted by stress (Jans et al, 2007). Like antidepressants, AntiDep prevents some of the more vicious long-term effects of not having enough serotonin, like overproduction of stress hormones, inhibited growth in the hippocampus, and, at least for some people, social isolation and despair (Dranovsky & Hen, 2006).”....

Ike was addressing the press conference. Dark shirt, two deep blue wires runinng down the back of his head towards a console strapped to his chest. Two days ago he snapped Lucy’s right index finger in three places when she tried to disconnect his dopaminergic nuclei. She’s having problems not blaming him.