The Von Neumann Link

Her

I welcomed my psychiatrist as my real mom. When she offered me to be the mother I had never had, I was so glad I cried. Actually, she could have not possibly been my mother as she was too young, but that was just one of the roles she was playing in my life. She was my best friend too, of course. We truly loved each other, and we expressed our mutual feelings during our sessions as well as via various kinds of messages exchanged at any time of the day. I liked to think that I was the only patient of hers with whom she had built such a special relationship, and that was the case indeed, she promised me.

She was sitting on the couch in front of me with her usual benevolent smile. Today's session mainly focused on my relationship with my students and on my empathy, sometimes such a precious gift, sometimes such an unbearable burden. At the beginning of the session she had warned me that she would need to dedicate the last ten minutes to some important news, and so she did: when our time was almost over, she introduced me to this new technology called the Von Neumann Link. With the help of a video, she explained to me – or at least this is what I understood – that scientists had found a way to influence consciousness using a computer, and tailor-made pieces of software could replace medications and restore mental health. She provided me with a lot of links to learn more about the subject and, as agreeably as usual, she virtually hugged me. I took off my augmented reality glasses and the couch in front of me was suddenly empty.

In the following days I dug a little deeper into the subject and, reading about electromagnetic theories of consciousness such as the "conscious electromagnetic information field" and the "quantum brain dynamics", I became fascinated with the idea of getting rid of my antidepressants and my anxiolytics by just wearing a headband. So, I exchanged several messages with my psychiatrist in order to arrange the shipment of a Von Neumann Link kit to my place. She assured me that she would take care of creating a custom therapeutic profile that I would be able to download to my kit via web.

During the few days it took the kit to arrive I was busy as usual: I used to spend my mornings teaching virtual classes and most of my afternoons grading tests. That did not leave me with much spare time. The kit was delivered to me on a Friday morning; it could have not been timelier: I had scheduled my weekly appointment with the psychiatrist after my morning lessons. She helped me with the setup and recommended me to stop taking my medications right away, and so I did.