When I was a young boy, I had an unexpected dream.  I don’t remember the details but I do know that during it, I was kissed on my cheek.  The kiss woke me up.  At first I thought I had been woken from my sleep by my mother.  However, when I opened my eyes, no-one was near me.  In fact, I was alone in my parents’ house.  The weird thing was, I could still feel the kiss on my cheek, like it was real and had left a lasting impression.  I quickly attempted to ‘drop off’ again in the vain hope of recapturing the realism of my dream.

As time went on, I began to have several similar dreams where ‘touch’ had a lasting effect and I could never explain it.  While still very young, I started to experiment with trying to find a way to record my dreams.  I never thought for one moment that my determination would lead where it has.  I only wanted to ‘see my dreams on a television screen’ and understand what’s happening.

After several years of hard work and sacrifice, I finally came up with a prototype recording machine.  With it, I was able to record / playback dreams and the results were extraordinary.  Although I had succeeded in reaching my goal, by now it wasn’t enough.  I had a bite of the cherry and I wanted to explore my dreamworlds.  Even more ambitious, I wanted to create a whole new world within the dreamscape and be able to explore every part of it.

With everything I had already learned up to this point, I set about the creation of a new prototype.  My limited time on this stage stops me from going into detail but, suffice to say I finally succeeded in creating my machine.  To begin, I populated it with the existing dreams I’d already recorded and created a way to enter those dreams and fully interact with them.  Interacting with my dreams in a way I had always wanted to was awe inspiring and exhilarating, if also quite petrifying.  Still, I carried on working and eventually refined this to a point where I felt I was ready to create rather than record and copy.

By pure chance, while working on program definitions, I figured out a way to create a program to map the planet and store it in a format my machine could interpret.  To assist with the mapping, I chose specific satellites which I felt would be able to handle my query.  following the correct approvals, I was allowed access to the majority of the satellites I’d identified and set about running my program using their systems.

Well, the moment of truth had finally arrived.  Within twelve hours, the program was complete and I had the data saved within my machine.  I then set about incorporating it into the existing program.  When I finally managed this, I discovered something quite remarkable.

The data I gained was not simply the planetary information to recreate a copy for dreams.  No.  It was something much much more.  My intent was to create a dreamscape version of the planet that I could interact with.  However, when I completed the integration work and went into the program, I did not expect to find people and animals populating my new world.

I analysed the data and realised that my algorithm had literally collected every shred of DNA on the planet.  I ran a check to locate myself and went in to test.  There I was, clear as day, standing as I stand in front of you today.  A very strange feeling, I must tell you.

Well I could hardly contain myself.  I realised I had something far more important than a simple dream machine.  I started to analyse the DNA data to see what I had.  In doing so, I created a way to view the results without entering the dream world.  Very quickly I found I not only had exact numbers of living species including humans on the planet but I could also group DNA strands by species and understand any possible new species as yet undiscovered.

For a quick rundown of figures, at the time I took the data, there were around 7.2billion humans on Earth. I have determined there are around 23 million living species on the planet and I can confidently categorise around 6,000,000 endangered species based on the known criteria for determining this.  As an extra, with the new visual display I created, I can literally see every DNA strand as you or I would see the animal or plant as if right in front of us.

I’m now going to use the screen behind me to show you four examples.  The first is an invertebrate.  This creature, similar to a millipede in appearance is common in England and France.  The second is a mammal, found only in the himalayas.  The third picture shows a type of creeping vine.  Extremely rare and found only around Lake Ladoga in Russia.  The last is of a sea creature like nothing anyone has ever seen.  I believe it is the largest living creature on Earth, measuring a whopping 225m long.  It lives at the bottom of the Mariana trench.

It may surprise you all to know that these are all ‘new’ discoveries.  I have yet to name them but am open to suggestions.

I have accurately categorised every species on Earth and I can show you what they are and where they live.  I can even take you to them by entering the dream world through my machine.

Having said all this, I hope you will agree in my belief that the database alone will greatly increase scientific knowledge.  Further to this, with the ability to display a real-world image of the subject, it has wide ranging applications for everyone, everywhere.  Take a missing person as an example.  With a DNA Extract and one coordinated satellite sweep, I can match it in the database and provide a full size 3D image of the person they’re looking for as well as their exact location.

The dream machine itself has not been belittled by the DNA discovery, it has the ability to enlighten the world to their dreams.  It is possible to record the dreams of any living creature that dreams and I can create worlds for people to enjoy when sleeping.

Funding to increase this technology is currently in the form of a worldwide television game show proposal which I’m not able to elaborate on unfortunately.

Well, That’s all for now.  I would very much like to thank you all for your time.  I am now happy to take any questions you may have.

‘Pause for questions’

Ok, so if there’s no more questions, then I guess that wraps up my presentation.  If you wish to experience either my DNA sequencer or dream machine for yourself, I will be holding demonstrations from 14:00 to 18:00 in the room opposite this conference hall.  For reference, if you choose to try out the dream machine.  I’ve worked out that 1 year dreaming equates to around 1 hour in the machine.  This works out as roughly 2.4 hours of dreaming every second.

Thanks again all of you and I wish you a fantastic afternoon.

      ‘Right, that should just about do it’ Marshall thought as he finished.  Never a great presenter or writer, he simply wrote down everything in his head and hoped it would be ok.  ‘I’ll read it to my wife before bed’. He lent back on his chair and stretched towards the ceiling.  It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

Margaret Healy knew not to disturb her husband when he was working.  This time was a little more difficult as they were in a hotel.  Sat on the balcony reading her book, glass of red wine by her side, she was happy.  She heard Marshall stretch which was a good sign that he was finished.  She didn’t look up though as the chapter she was reading was completely gripping.

Finishing his stretch, Marshall opened the fridge underneath the desk on the left side and pulled out a small bottle of rum with a small can of cola.  He put them on the table next to his empty glass, then reached into the fridge once more and pulled some ice cubes from the miniature freezer section.  He dropped them in the glass, made his drink, then got up and stepped onto the balcony.  “Thank you honey for being so understanding tonight.”

“That’s ok my lovely” Margaret said resting her book on her legs.  “My book’s been really interesting so the time’s just flown by.  Have you finished the first draft?”

“Yes, and I’d like you to read it if that’s ok?  It would help as I hate writing and you know I tend to waffle.”

“Sure, shall I read it now?”  Marshall nodded.  “I can’t wait!” She smiled at him, picked up her book and meandered past him into the hotel room.  Flinging it lightly on the bed, she turned as Marshall held out the desk chair and beckoned her to sit.  She did so and he moved out to the balcony.  He didn’t want to distract her but, more importantly, he needed his drink.