“So, the good scientists down at SRI have a new invention, do they?”

“Yes sir, there’s an article about it this month in one of my tech journals.”

“Anything of interest in this one?”

“I think so, yes. It seems they’ve developed a tool to identify if a person’s thoughts are positive or negative.”

“You mean, good or bad?”

“Basically. Apparently it listens for activity in the part of the brain responsible for conscience, and flags thoughts that the person finds morally objectionable.”

“Fascinating. What was that research you were telling me about the other day? About the pain stimulus?”

“Ah, yes. There’s a team at Stanford that can trigger a sensation of pain without causing the subject any physical distress.”

“Harris, I have an idea.”

“Great, sir. We could use some new ideas.”

“What if we put the two together?”

“Um…”

“Yes! I’ll introduce a bill requiring all convicted felons to wear a thought-conditioning device! Who could vote against it?”

“Sounds like your reelection is all but guaranteed, sir.”