where you will sing in Chinese, and so on. You can do that.”
“I can do that,” she agreed.
“It is a completely international effort, as you may have noticed from the facilities in China. Other countries are contributing too. We want the whole world to know you and love you.”
“I want that too.”
“You will be the Celebrity of the Century. Do you have any problem with that?”
“No. It is my purpose to represent my people to the human world. But please, it would be nice if I could have my child along, and her grandparents. It would be comforting for me, and a nice excursion for them.”
“And will make you even more clearly human,” Potus agreed. “It shall be done.”
“Thank you.”
“But you know there will be some objections. If Jesus Christ himself came to Earth today, there would be those ready to crucify him again. We will do our best to persuade them to accept you, but meanwhile there will be extremely heavy security. Your days of running in the park almost alone will be over.”
“I regret that.”
“With luck we’ll garner a ninety percent approval rating, and trade relations between our two planets will prosper. We do stand to gain enormously by this contact.”
“I hope so.”
“You are very agreeable. I like that.”
Aliena laughed. “You are a politician, almost as alien to the normal person as I am.”
“Curses! She’s on to me,” Potus said. “Will your husband object if I kiss you?”
“Not enough.” She stood as he did. They came together and he kissed her on the forehead.
“You’re perfect, Aliena,” he said. “I will let you be, for now.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. It was clear that they had impressed each other.
Then Potus returned to Brom as Aliena rejoined Martha. “I want to clarify exactly what you did,” he said.
“I helped a woman in need.”
“That, too. Are you familiar with the basketball and ape experiment?”
“I don’t think I have seen apes playing basketball, unless you are being facetious. I’m not much of a fan.”
“They set it up as a challenge: count how many times the white team passed the ball back and forth. It was a crowded scene, with players constantly weaving from one side to the other and through the center; it required real focus to get the count right. I saw it; I admit I did not do well, missing about a third of them.”
“That’s understandable,” Brom said, wondering what the point was.
“At the end of the sequence came a question: did you see the ape? I was baffled; I had seen nothing like that. Then they played it over, and this time a man in an ape costume walked onstage and waved to the viewer during the basketball action. I had never seen it.”
“Because your focus was too narrow!” Brom said.
“Exactly. I had concentrated so exclusively on the basketball action that I had completely tuned out the ape. I was amazed. About half of all viewers miss it, so I was average. It’s not actually that the eye does not see it, but that the brain tunes it out as irrelevant and it never enters consciousness. Well, later it occurred to a doctor to wonder whether professionals could make a similar error. So he set up a series of slides, asking doctors to examine them closely for signs of cancer, I believe it was. He superimposed pictures of the ape on the pictures—and more than eighty percent of the doctors missed it.” Potus smiled. “If there had really been an ape in there, that would have accounted for the patient’s illness better than cancer would. So the question is, how much malpractice is occurring because perfectly sincere and competent doctors miss the obvious, being too focused on the detail?”
“Too many, I fear. That’s scary.”
“Yes it is. Here is the relevance: when we set up the Trillion Dollar Alien Contact Project, we focused so much on specifics of education and appearance that we overlooked the obvious. We forgot that she needed meaningful personal interaction.
“I can do that,” she agreed.
“It is a completely international effort, as you may have noticed from the facilities in China. Other countries are contributing too. We want the whole world to know you and love you.”
“I want that too.”
“You will be the Celebrity of the Century. Do you have any problem with that?”
“No. It is my purpose to represent my people to the human world. But please, it would be nice if I could have my child along, and her grandparents. It would be comforting for me, and a nice excursion for them.”
“And will make you even more clearly human,” Potus agreed. “It shall be done.”
“Thank you.”
“But you know there will be some objections. If Jesus Christ himself came to Earth today, there would be those ready to crucify him again. We will do our best to persuade them to accept you, but meanwhile there will be extremely heavy security. Your days of running in the park almost alone will be over.”
“I regret that.”
“With luck we’ll garner a ninety percent approval rating, and trade relations between our two planets will prosper. We do stand to gain enormously by this contact.”
“I hope so.”
“You are very agreeable. I like that.”
Aliena laughed. “You are a politician, almost as alien to the normal person as I am.”
“Curses! She’s on to me,” Potus said. “Will your husband object if I kiss you?”
“Not enough.” She stood as he did. They came together and he kissed her on the forehead.
“You’re perfect, Aliena,” he said. “I will let you be, for now.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. It was clear that they had impressed each other.
Then Potus returned to Brom as Aliena rejoined Martha. “I want to clarify exactly what you did,” he said.
“I helped a woman in need.”
“That, too. Are you familiar with the basketball and ape experiment?”
“I don’t think I have seen apes playing basketball, unless you are being facetious. I’m not much of a fan.”
“They set it up as a challenge: count how many times the white team passed the ball back and forth. It was a crowded scene, with players constantly weaving from one side to the other and through the center; it required real focus to get the count right. I saw it; I admit I did not do well, missing about a third of them.”
“That’s understandable,” Brom said, wondering what the point was.
“At the end of the sequence came a question: did you see the ape? I was baffled; I had seen nothing like that. Then they played it over, and this time a man in an ape costume walked onstage and waved to the viewer during the basketball action. I had never seen it.”
“Because your focus was too narrow!” Brom said.
“Exactly. I had concentrated so exclusively on the basketball action that I had completely tuned out the ape. I was amazed. About half of all viewers miss it, so I was average. It’s not actually that the eye does not see it, but that the brain tunes it out as irrelevant and it never enters consciousness. Well, later it occurred to a doctor to wonder whether professionals could make a similar error. So he set up a series of slides, asking doctors to examine them closely for signs of cancer, I believe it was. He superimposed pictures of the ape on the pictures—and more than eighty percent of the doctors missed it.” Potus smiled. “If there had really been an ape in there, that would have accounted for the patient’s illness better than cancer would. So the question is, how much malpractice is occurring because perfectly sincere and competent doctors miss the obvious, being too focused on the detail?”
“Too many, I fear. That’s scary.”
“Yes it is. Here is the relevance: when we set up the Trillion Dollar Alien Contact Project, we focused so much on specifics of education and appearance that we overlooked the obvious. We forgot that she needed meaningful personal interaction.
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