Stories of Your Life and Others

From Maria deSouza's speech the day before the election:
We've reached a point where we can begin to adjust our minds. The
question is, when is it appropriate for us to do so? We shouldn't
automatically accept that natural is better, nor should we automatically
presume that we can improve on nature. It's up to us to decide which
qualities we value, and what's the best way to achieve those.
I say that physical beauty is something we no longer need. Calli
doesn't mean that you'll never see anyone as beautiful. When you see a
smile that's genuine, you'll see beauty. When you see an act of courage or
generosity, you'll see beauty. Most of all, when you look at someone you
love, you'll see beauty. All calli does is keep you from being distracted by
surfaces. True beauty is what you see with the eyes of love, and that's
something that nothing can obscure.

---

From the speech broadcast by Rebecca Boyer, spokesperson for People
for Ethical Nanomedicine, the day before the election:
You might be able to create a pure calli society in an artificial setting,
but in the real world, you're never going to get a hundred percent
compliance. And that is calli's weakness. Calli works fine if everybody has
it, but if even one person doesn't, that person will take advantage of
everyone else.
There'll always be people who don't get calli; you know that. Just think
about what those people could do. A manager could promote attractive
employees and demote ugly ones, but you won't even notice. A teacher
could reward attractive students and punish ugly ones, but you won't be able
to tell. All the discrimination you hate could be taking place, without you
even realizing.
Of course, it's possible those things won't happen. But if people could
always be trusted to do what's right, no one would have suggested calli in
the first place. In fact, the people prone to such behavior are liable to do it
even more once there's no chance of their getting caught.
If you're outraged by that sort of lookism, how can you afford to get
calli? You're precisely the type of person who's needed to blow the whistle
on that behavior, but if you've got calli, you won't be able to recognize it.
If you want to fight discrimination, keep your eyes open.