Memory-Insufficient-spec-alt

man rights associated with the arrests and ensuingcrackdowns. Must we also assume that someindividual human lives — politicians or artistsor great thinkers — are worth more than, say, amodest grocer’s?How do you put a value on Einstein’sTheory of Relativity, orVirginia Woolf’s collected works,or the signature of Princess Enheduannacirca 2280 BCE?To think, all I’m trying to do is build a simple,workable paper prototype of Blood and Roses, avideo game described by Canadian author MargaretAtwood in her speculative fiction masterpiece,Oryx and Crake, the first in her MaddAddam trilogy.The series is a Swiftian journey into a strange andfrightening, though oddly familiar, near-futureEarth. Genetic engineering, bio-warfare, erodingdemocracy, amoral corporations, and a crumblingglobal environment all feature heavily. In her acknowledgementsof the culminating book, Madd-Addam, Atwood admits that the series “does notinclude any technologies or biobeings that do notalready exist, are not under construction, or are notpossible in theory.” Interactive media and videogames exist within Atwood’s delicious dystopianuniverse, and they serve a very specific purpose.I was inspired to think about this recently while enjoyinga Game Grumps “let’s play” video of PlagueInc., a mobile-turned-PC/console game whereyou lovingly parent an ever-evolving pathogen asit attempts to wipe out the entire human race. Itreminded me of the beginning of Oryx and Crake,which explains that the novel’s main character,Jimmy/Snowman, has parents who are bioengineersfor morally corrupt biomedical corporations.Jimmy has a fond memory of his mother teachinghim a scientific computer program that pits digital