Latnok Society
From Kyle XY Wiki
The Latnok Society was a group of visionaries that shared that same dream: to maximize human brain power. Adam Baylin was a member and was identified as such by his ring, which he subsequently gave to Kyle.
Contents |
[edit] Information
[edit] Beginnings
The Latnok Society traces its beginnings to the massive mobilization of science that helped the allies win World War II. In the high-desert of eastern Washington state, the US War Department assembled a group of scientists to take part in the biological equivalent of the Manhattan Project, code named: Project Eugene.
Like their counterparts on the Manhattan Project, many of the team members were refugees of Nazi Germany's advance across Europe. They knew first-hand the horrors of the Third Reich and were highly motivated, desperate even, and willing to do anything to help defeat Germany.
The scientists of Project Eugene raced to create a unified theory of human evolution. Debates raged, egos clashed and the project stalled. Until this ragtag group of refugees (Project Eugene included Poles, Jews, Germans, Italians, North Africans, Hungarians, Russians and Romanians) realized that their differences were their strengths. The collective sum of knowledge and creativity that grew from their diversity was far greater than any one of them could have achieved on their own.
[edit] New Evolution
The scientist of Project Eugene realized that messy imperfection and conflicting heterogeneity are the true engines of human creativity and evolution. As such, the scientists of Project Eugene were among the first geneticists to argue that race was a political and cultural concept with little or no true basis in genetics.
Their experiments to demonstrate their theories ran the gamut, from primate and mammalian breeding programs to ground-breaking research in cell biology that ultimately led to Crick and Watson's discovery of DNA. Their experiments and observations had implications for the social sciences as well. Several of Project Eugene's social and behavioral theories spurred real-world changes in the US Army, leading to the complete integration of the service during the Korean conflict—decades before the end of Jim Crow.
[edit] Cold War
But, like many of their counterparts at the Manhattan project, many of the Project Eugene scientists became disillusioned. Much of their work went into the fight against the Nazis. But as the cold war dawned, the military began repurposing Project Eugene, turning it to darker things: weapons of mass destruction; genetically-targeted germ warfare; and, worst of all, race-based experiments like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments. The project was becoming the very thing the scientist had fought against during WWII. By the late 1940's many Project Eugene scientist had renounced their work for the program.
[edit] Latnok Born
In 1948, a handful of the original Project members came together to form a society to counter the effects of Project Eugene. It was to be a scientific society dedicated to the evolution of human intelligence. Their goal: to nudge human consciousness and intelligence along by unlocking the social and genetic power of diversity within the species homo sapiens. They called themselves the Latnok Society, from the Hungarian word Latnok, which means seer or prophet. They hoped, perhaps naively, that their vision of humanity might be the true destiny of human kind.
[edit] Dark Ages
But the world quickly refuted their hopes, as Senator Joseph McCarthy and his red-baiting tactics tore the nation apart. Scientists were forced to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Even Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, was accused of Communist sympathies. When Senator Joseph McCarthy singled out the Latnok Society—and its humanistic agenda—as “a perilous threat, rotten to the core with bolshevism,” the Latnok Society struggled to keep its identity.
A few Latnok Society members testified before HUAC, naming names and destroying the careers of their colleagues. A handful of Society members refused to testify and were blacklisted from research projects that depended on government funds. And membership in the Latnok Society plummeted as many members chose to protect their families and careers by fading into anonymity.
[edit] Latnok Fights Back
But the scientific community fought back, and the Latnok Society was key player as scientists confronted the McCarthy's of the world head-on. By 1954, Latnok Society membership had surpassed its pre-McCarthy height, and a Latnok Society card became a defiant badge of honor.
By 1957, the Latnok Society joined with Joseph Rotblat and Bertrand Russell in Pugwash, Nova Scotia to usher in a new era of scientific involvement in geo-politics. The Pugwash Conference, as it became known, began the movement for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. But the Latnok Society didn't limit itself to broad policy initiatives. The Society was forceful supporter of the civil rights movement. In fact, many Latnok members joined marchers in Selma and Birmingham.
[edit] A New Beginning
In early 1980's, anonymous donors gave the Latnok Society the exclusive rights to over two hundred scientific patents, the royalties from which have created a truly immense endowment. Thanks to those funds, the Latnok Society was able to fund basic research in all areas of science, with a concentration in health, genetics, microbiology and stem-cell research.
The Society also furthers its vision that diversity and debate are the cornerstone of human intelligence through a host of publications, including The Prophet and the Latnok Society website.
[edit] Defending The Future
Above all, the society continues to be an active advocate of human rights and a defender of the fundamentally American principle that all people are created equal. It is our deeply held belief that is the diversity of our species, and the untapped potential of each, individual human being, that will drive us to un-imaginable achievements.
[edit] Latnok ring
Main Article: Latnok ring
The Latnok Ring was a ring worn by the members that identified them. At least four rings were in existance.
[edit] Notable Scientists and Members
- Dr. Alejandro Garza, PHD
- Joshua Malphus, MD
- Adam Baylin, founder of Zzyx
- Brian Taylor, worked for Adam
[edit] External links
Bold text
