Challenge 825 Response

Public Trust

a Bewildering Stories discussion

“Water of Life” begins in issue 824.

The Review Editors’ discussion of Jeffrey Greene’s “Water of Life” answers some of the Challenge questions.

What assumption does Coleman make about the label and advertising of the Water of Life?

A Review Editor says:

While Coleman might have been taking a risk bringing in the water bottles left at his door, how was he to know it? It was just water (sealed), and he had the water cooler already, so why not?

Another Review Editor says:

What sane person would drink from a bottle left on his doorstep without any idea of where it came from? First, he knows the “water” belongs to someone else, so taking it makes him a petty thief. Second, and more important, how does he know the bottle wasn’t left as a prank? Its contents might make him very sick, or worse.

Both of our Review Editors are right. And they raise an important question: What are the limits of public trust?

If I go to my favourite local grocery, Market Fresh, and ask for a fancy coffee at the deli counter, I can be pretty sure that the employee, who is dressed in the store’s uniform, is not handing me a cup of arsenic and old lace.

If the employee were a robot, I would be less sure; robots can be hacked, and machines can fail. But I’d probably take the cup of coffee anyway; the store would stand to lose too much if robots started killing off customers.

But if I opened my front door and found a cup labeled “Coffee of Life” sitting on the porch, I would take our second Review Editor’s warning to heart. I would pour the contents on the most invasive weed in the yard. Three possible outcomes::

Nothing happens.
The “coffee” creates a smoking hole in the ground.
The weed flourishes and sprouts tentacles. I retreat hastily.

None of those possibilities is desirable, but #1 seems to be the least harmful.

Coleman assumes that the bottles’ label and advertising are true. Maybe they are, but he may also be making a big mistake.

In view of Coleman’s assumptions about regular drinking water, how could he easily obtain and use a low-cost equivalent of the Water of Life?

Coleman says that regular drinking water is “polluted” and has reduced him and others to shadows of their potential personalities. If he really believed that, he could shrug off the exorbitant price of the Water of Life and make his own: simply purchase or make distilled water and store it in sterile, indissoluble containers. In that way, he might live up to his last name: “Stillworth.”

The story does not depict a true addiction. What effect does it depict? Why do Coleman and others fall prey to it?

A true addiction would cause changes in metabolism and, perhaps, the brain itself. If the Water of Life is as advertised, it can’t do that; the human body is already about 70 percent water.

“Water of Life” illustrates a placebo effect running amok. Its consequences are due entirely to the mysterious producer’s advertising combined with the consumers’ wishful thinking.

Is the Water of Life fake water? Apparently not. Rather, the story “Water of Life” is a cautionary tale for the era of “fake news.” Its moral: Consider the source. And think critically; retain a healthy skepticism.

Coleman might object that moralizing is all very well and good, but drinking the Water of Life gives him a new and vibrant personality. What can we say to that?

Simple: we can remind Coleman that he’s playing a role in his own play, and the Water of Life is merely his costume. Actors needn’t go broke in dressing the part: something as simple as a handkerchief in a breast pocket or on one’s wrist can suffice to bring the actor on stage and in character. Try that distilled water; it’s inexpensive and may have unsuspected properties!