Reflecting on all this computer virus nastiness, I’m reminded of a bit of a metaphor that came by way of one of those half-hour sci-fi story shows that had a short run in the ’80s. I never watched them, but a friend wanted me to record this one, and when I saw it, I was blown away by its message, which seems to amount to a kind of modern-day parable. I’m going to paraphrase it here without any attempt at art, but I think you’ll still get the point. It went something like this:

A married couple is living the plain-but-simple life and having their share of money troubles. One day when the husband is at work, a stranger shows up at the door and tells the wife that they’ve been selected at random and that he needs to give them the small box he’s carrying. The wife asks all the usual questions, and is put off by how much the stranger seems to know about them and how vague he is about the whole thing.

The box has a lid that opens to reveal a big red button. She asks what happens if she pushes it, and he answers matter-of-factly that they will receive a lot of money but that someone will die.

“They’ll die? Pushing this button will kill them?”

“Yes.”

“Who? Who will it kill?” she asks.

“Someone you don’t even know,” he answers.

She goes through all the reasonable responses, but the man is not to be deterred. In the end the box is left at their house, and he takes his leave. She tells her husband the whole story and he is duly impressed. But ultimately, he thinks the whole thing is stupid and tells her to chuck it in the trash.

She ignores the box at first, but as time wears on, she finds it impossible to ignore. Arguing with her husband over it, she finally gives in to temptation and pushes the button. Nothing appears to happen.

The next day, the stranger appears at the door. He hands them the money and collects the box. The wife asks him if it killed someone when she pushed the button, and he answers blandly, “Well, of course.”

“Who?”

He looks mildly surprised at her curiosity. “Their name wouldn’t mean anything to you. It was someone you didn’t even know.”

She asks what happens to the box now. Does it get thrown away?

“Of course not. It’ll need to be re-set, naturally. But then it’ll be given to someone else.”

“Who? Someone around here?”

“Oh no,” he answers, turning to give her a meaningful look as he closes the door. “It’ll go to someone you don’t even know.”

.
And now, proving that you can find ANYthing online these days, I found a 10-minute distilled-down version of that episode on YouTube — HERE – if you want to check my memory. I got a couple words wrong, but on the whole, it’s just like I remembered it.

Maybe it just seems like a bit of television-y frippery, but as I said, the point of it has stayed with me for over 20 years. Interesting, that.