Fictional drugs play an important role in the plot and are the basis of many science fiction stories. The unique effect they have on their characters is an interesting new way to explore important questions. Many of these fictional drugs are synonymous with the stories they tell.
Science fiction writers have always been good at taking us to strange and new alien worlds, places we never dreamed of and that would never have seen the light of day if they hadn't been persuaded by the author's exuberant imagination to carve out space in the minds of readers forever. But new worlds aren't the only new things to put on the page.
Fictional drugs explore a crucial dimension of the mind, society and what it means to be human, and sometimes something completely different. Below are some of the most stunning and reality-shattering fictional drugs.
Science fiction writers have always been good at taking us to strange and new alien worlds, places we never dreamed of and that would never have seen the light of day if they hadn't been persuaded by the author's exuberant imagination to carve out space in the minds of readers forever. But new worlds aren't the only new things to put on the page.
Fictional drugs explore a crucial dimension of the mind, society and what it means to be human, and sometimes something completely different. Below are some of the most stunning and reality-shattering fictional drugs.
«Soma» — Brave New World of Aldous Huxley
Soma takes its name from an ancient and legendary psychedelic plant used in Indian religious ceremonies. Author Aldous Huxley, a profound philosopher and lover of altered states of consciousness, created one of the most memorable drugs in fiction.
Soma is used to pacify the entire population in Brave New World. The population of the World State is divided into homogeneous castes, cloned and grown in vats, and they all lovingly accept their slavery and uniformity. And it's all thanks to Soma. The miracle drug and means of control for all castes in society has different effects in different dosages:
...there is always soma, delightful soma, half a gram for half a holiday, a gram for a weekend, two grams for a trip to the beautiful East, three for a dark eternity on the moon…
Soma is used to pacify the entire population in Brave New World. The population of the World State is divided into homogeneous castes, cloned and grown in vats, and they all lovingly accept their slavery and uniformity. And it's all thanks to Soma. The miracle drug and means of control for all castes in society has different effects in different dosages:
...there is always soma, delightful soma, half a gram for half a holiday, a gram for a weekend, two grams for a trip to the beautiful East, three for a dark eternity on the moon…
«Tasp» — by Larry Niven from Ringworld
In the futuristic alien world of Larry Niven's Ringworld, the Tasp is a device and a kind of drug wielded by a three-legged alien race known as the Puppeteers. Once attached to a human or other species, the device releases a beam that stimulates pleasure centers in the brain.
One would think that such an overload of ecstasy and pure rapture would be welcomed by the inhabitants of Niven's fictional universe. But on the contrary, it is used as a means of control and threat. Enough exposure to the tasp is enough, and you will become the unwilling slave of the one who wields it. In a conversation between a puppeteer named Nessus and a kzin, an eight-foot tall bipedal cat, a threat is made to use the tasp if the beast gets out of control. Later in the story, this is done:
But Nessus struck him with the surgically implanted tasp, bringing Speaker to helpless ecstasy, and Luis disarmed the kzin. Nessus warned Speaker that he would use the tasp whenever he felt threatened. The Speaker replied that he would no longer threaten the Puppeteer; a proud Kzin would not be dishonored by his dependence on the tasp.
One would think that such an overload of ecstasy and pure rapture would be welcomed by the inhabitants of Niven's fictional universe. But on the contrary, it is used as a means of control and threat. Enough exposure to the tasp is enough, and you will become the unwilling slave of the one who wields it. In a conversation between a puppeteer named Nessus and a kzin, an eight-foot tall bipedal cat, a threat is made to use the tasp if the beast gets out of control. Later in the story, this is done:
But Nessus struck him with the surgically implanted tasp, bringing Speaker to helpless ecstasy, and Luis disarmed the kzin. Nessus warned Speaker that he would use the tasp whenever he felt threatened. The Speaker replied that he would no longer threaten the Puppeteer; a proud Kzin would not be dishonored by his dependence on the tasp.
«The Penfield Mood Organ» by Philip K. Dick — Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Penfield Mood Organ is an ingenious invention of author Philip K. Dick. In the novel from which Blade Runner was based — «Do Androids Dream of Electro-Ovans» — the opening scenes feature a device that the characters can use to customize their thoughts.
It's unclear how the mood organ works, but it appears that some sort of wave affects certain parts of the brain. Here's an excerpt from the book when Rick Deckard is arguing with his wife about what mood to tune into:
At the remote control, he hesitated over whether to choose a thalamic suppressant (which would relieve his anger) or a thalamic stimulant (which would make him angry enough to win the argument).
«If you dial a number» — Iran said, opening his eyes and watching, for more anger, «…I’ll dial the same number».
«So I muted the TV, sat down at my mood organ and experimented. And finally found a setting for despair... So I put it on my schedule twice a month; I think that's a reasonable amount of time to feel hopeless about everything…»
It's unclear how the mood organ works, but it appears that some sort of wave affects certain parts of the brain. Here's an excerpt from the book when Rick Deckard is arguing with his wife about what mood to tune into:
At the remote control, he hesitated over whether to choose a thalamic suppressant (which would relieve his anger) or a thalamic stimulant (which would make him angry enough to win the argument).
«If you dial a number» — Iran said, opening his eyes and watching, for more anger, «…I’ll dial the same number».
«So I muted the TV, sat down at my mood organ and experimented. And finally found a setting for despair... So I put it on my schedule twice a month; I think that's a reasonable amount of time to feel hopeless about everything…»
An amusing example of how the mood organ works is the 888 call, which causes users to «want to watch TV regardless of what's on it…»
Philip K. Dick has also explored this idea in other books, using the concept of the «empathy box» that adherents of religious faiths used to allow their followers to experience the apotheosis of their savior.
«The empathy box» — he said, stammering with excitement, «is the most personal thing you have. It's an extension of your body; it's the way you touch other people, it's the way you stop being alone».
Philip K. Dick has also explored this idea in other books, using the concept of the «empathy box» that adherents of religious faiths used to allow their followers to experience the apotheosis of their savior.
«The empathy box» — he said, stammering with excitement, «is the most personal thing you have. It's an extension of your body; it's the way you touch other people, it's the way you stop being alone».
«The Waters of the River Lethe» — Virgil Aeneid
Long before the advent of Soma, people dreamed of chemical means of suppressing and altering the nature of our thoughts. In the great Latin epic poem The Aeneid, Virgil tells the story of the wandering Aeneas. At one point in the story, he stumbles upon water from the River Lethe, one of the first known fictional drugs.
On the edge of the Elysian fields of Greek eternity, the water of Lethe granted its users oblivion and erased their memories. It was a form of purification if you wanted to reincarnate — you needed to leave behind your past thoughts and experiences in order to know the divine. In a beautiful quote from The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann clarifies and expands on this concept:
Space, like time, breeds oblivion, but it does so by detaching man from all relations and placing him in a free and primordial state — indeed, in an instant it can turn the pedant and the philistine into something like a vagabond. Time, they say, is water from the river Lethe, but a stranger's air is a similar drink; and if its influence is less profound, it acts the more quickly.
On the edge of the Elysian fields of Greek eternity, the water of Lethe granted its users oblivion and erased their memories. It was a form of purification if you wanted to reincarnate — you needed to leave behind your past thoughts and experiences in order to know the divine. In a beautiful quote from The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann clarifies and expands on this concept:
Space, like time, breeds oblivion, but it does so by detaching man from all relations and placing him in a free and primordial state — indeed, in an instant it can turn the pedant and the philistine into something like a vagabond. Time, they say, is water from the river Lethe, but a stranger's air is a similar drink; and if its influence is less profound, it acts the more quickly.
«Betaphenethylamine» — Neuromancer by William Gibson’s
William Gibson's seminal cyberpunk work Neuromancer is overflowing with excitement, sedation, zoomers, and electronic bloopers. At the beginning of the book, Case (a virtual hacker and addict) undergoes surgery to return to the virtual world. During this surgery, he also has a new pancreas implanted and plugs inserted into his liver that prevent him from getting high on his usual dose of superamphetamines.
Arriving in Freeside, Vegas-in-space, Case meets a woman named Kat, a drug addict who seems to be in a constant state of euphoria and high on some very powerful drugs. She gives him something called beta-phenethylamine. Ecstatic fits and super energy are followed by some of the worst hangover moments ever described. But with crystalline moments realized like these:
His eyes were balls of unstable crystal, vibrating at a frequency whose name is rain and train noise, suddenly sprouting a humming forest of fine, hair-like glass spikes. Case remains a workable, albeit extremely light-hearted, virtual hacker genius.
Arriving in Freeside, Vegas-in-space, Case meets a woman named Kat, a drug addict who seems to be in a constant state of euphoria and high on some very powerful drugs. She gives him something called beta-phenethylamine. Ecstatic fits and super energy are followed by some of the worst hangover moments ever described. But with crystalline moments realized like these:
His eyes were balls of unstable crystal, vibrating at a frequency whose name is rain and train noise, suddenly sprouting a humming forest of fine, hair-like glass spikes. Case remains a workable, albeit extremely light-hearted, virtual hacker genius.
«Moloko Plus» — A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Famed for one of the most iconic movie intros ever, Anthony Burgess' book A Clockwork Orange (which was the basis for Stanley Kubrick's movie of the same name) put Milk Plus on the fictional drug map. Alex and his gang of drug addicts hang out and enjoy themselves at the Cow Bar while sipping on Milk Plus.
This milk-based drink with a cocktail of additives includes some sort of mixture of barbiturates, opiates, and synthetic mescaline. Details of its effects are a bit vague, but Alex states at one point:
...a nice quiet horror show lasting fifteen minutes in which you admire God and all his holy angels and saints in your left shoe while lights go off all over your brain.
This milk-based drink with a cocktail of additives includes some sort of mixture of barbiturates, opiates, and synthetic mescaline. Details of its effects are a bit vague, but Alex states at one point:
...a nice quiet horror show lasting fifteen minutes in which you admire God and all his holy angels and saints in your left shoe while lights go off all over your brain.
«Melange» (spice) — Frank Herbert's Dune
One of the most famous drugs in science fiction, Spice isn't just your average everyday enlightenment. Melange is found on a desert planet called Arrakis, and is produced by giant sandworms. The inhabitants of Frank Herbert's fictional universe «Dune» consider it the perfect high. It even allows its users to gain knowledge and the ability to travel through various forms of space-time. It has some drawbacks, such as having to fight giant sandworms just to try it, and a few other negative side effects, as it changes every time it's used.
It's like life — it presents itself to you from a different perspective every time you take it. Some people believe that this spice causes a reaction to the digested flavor. The body, recognizing that something is good for it, interprets the taste as pleasant — slightly euphoric. And, like life, will never be truly synthesized.
It's like life — it presents itself to you from a different perspective every time you take it. Some people believe that this spice causes a reaction to the digested flavor. The body, recognizing that something is good for it, interprets the taste as pleasant — slightly euphoric. And, like life, will never be truly synthesized.
«Tripizoid» — Hystopia by David Means
At Hystopia, doctors treat PTSD by having patients replay their traumatic experiences while under the influence of a drug called Tripizoid («the little green ones, as we called them, no bigger than a saccharin tablet») — which, if successful, allows them to forget the entire experience. The curdling, it's called. «Without the drug Tripizoid, the folding process doesn't work, and the replay of the trauma is not properly confused with reality. Tripizoid somehow provokes a double memory reversion, a mnemonic ripoff — a great lack of water before the tsunami of pure memory arrives, except it never arrives, it just connects to the receding events».
I hope the need for this never arises in my lifetime, but even if it does, there's reason to be a little suspicious. After all, the creases are still there — they're just hidden.
I hope the need for this never arises in my lifetime, but even if it does, there's reason to be a little suspicious. After all, the creases are still there — they're just hidden.
«Dylar Drug» — White Noise by Don DeLillo
Dylar cures the user's fear of death. Well, not cure, exactly. «The drug specifically interacts with neurotransmitters in the brain that are associated with the fear of death» — Babette tells us. Every emotion or feeling has its own neurotransmitters.
Mr. Gray discovered the fear of death, and then set about finding chemicals that would make the brain produce its own inhibitors». But there are side effects: «immediate death, brain death, death of the left hemisphere of the brain, partial paralysis, other violent and bizarre conditions of body and mind». Plus, there's a chance the drug doesn't work at all. For use in Trump's America.
Mr. Gray discovered the fear of death, and then set about finding chemicals that would make the brain produce its own inhibitors». But there are side effects: «immediate death, brain death, death of the left hemisphere of the brain, partial paralysis, other violent and bizarre conditions of body and mind». Plus, there's a chance the drug doesn't work at all. For use in Trump's America.
DMZ (Madame Psychosis) — Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
The «incredibly powerful» hallucinogen DMZ, aka Madame Psychosis, chemically resembles «some mixture of a lysergic drug with muscimoloid, but differs significantly from LSD-25 in that its effects are not so much visual and spatial-brain, but temporal-brain and almost ontological, with a kind of manipulative-phenylkylamine-like speed that makes the receiver perceive their relationship to the normal flow of time as radically (and euphorically, that's where the muscimol-affective similarities come in) altered».
In case that doesn't tell you anything, like it did me, it's also described as «the darkest thing ever conceived in a tube» and, more tellingly, «acid that drops acid itself». With hipsters with sideburns printed on the pills. According to Pemulis, it wasn't manufactured until the early '70s and was «used in some questionable CIA-era military experiments».
In any case — perhaps this is the reason for Hal's condition at the chronological «end» of the novel — or perhaps not. Either way, I wouldn't risk it, despite the obvious coolness factor.
In case that doesn't tell you anything, like it did me, it's also described as «the darkest thing ever conceived in a tube» and, more tellingly, «acid that drops acid itself». With hipsters with sideburns printed on the pills. According to Pemulis, it wasn't manufactured until the early '70s and was «used in some questionable CIA-era military experiments».
In any case — perhaps this is the reason for Hal's condition at the chronological «end» of the novel — or perhaps not. Either way, I wouldn't risk it, despite the obvious coolness factor.
Undoubtedly, in the world of science fiction there are still a huge number of different substances that have not been published here. We invite you to complete the list of substances that were not mentioned in the article. Let's build together our own universe of fictional psychoactive substances and try to compare the effects with real-life psychoactive substances.
Write your variants in the comments!