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In this book we saw that clones were not afforded human rights and that many characters accepted their abuse and demeaning life. For me, the most ugly side of this was the torture performed on the two projects in the name of Pain Acclimation.
What was the ugliest or darkest act you experienced in this book?

I found the cutting off of the tips of Kalin's fingers and toes to give him claws was another ugly dark act. It was inhumane. When he agreed to have experimental testing done he certainly did not expect anything like that to be done to him. And without his knowledge as well!

Probably the way they are treated like slaves. Even if they are not human and created for such purposes, you would think we wouldn t tolerate doing that to something that could think and feel, even if you degraded it like an animal.

I was thoroughly creeped out by Mason and Dennison to dehumanize Kalin. Everyone else was sheltered by the societal perception of Projects as intrinsically different to humans...But they KNEW he was human.

The ugliest part for me was when Dennison was tortured by Project Kata to give in to Kata's demands yet he was a clone created by them... This was a bit impractical!

Warning, as this is a sensitive topic, but I was personally absolutely horrified at the fact that Dennison assaulted Tau -- a literal child. This is not pertaining to the pain acclimation sessions, something else. Finding this out later, when Kata explicitly mentions it was extremely upsetting and only solidified my severe dislike of Dennison.

The ugliest thing is not necessarily the acts themselves, but the mindset of the people performing them. Sadly, the human mind can be such an ugly thing, and it's something that we've seen throughout our own history. One of the things that grossed me out was what they did to Kalin to dehumanize him.

Arimart99 wrote: ↑03 Apr 2020, 19:39 The ugliest thing is not necessarily the acts themselves, but the mindset of the people performing them. Sadly, the human mind can be such an ugly thing, and it's something that we've seen throughout our own history. One of the things that grossed me out was what they did to Kalin to dehumanize him.

This is a really good point. It is disturbing to think about the ugliness of people who can commit atrocious acts upon others. The torturous acts performed in the book are cruel and dehumanizing. Mason and Dennison trying to dehumanize Kaling was pretty ugly and disturbing.

Mason's idea to punish Kalin for breaching through the facility by mutating him was extremely creepy and inhuman. Mason and Dennison created a clone of Kalin killed it and made his parents believe that he was dead. This was a real cold-blooded murder.

Julie Petitbon wrote: ↑04 Apr 2020, 09:20

Arimart99 wrote: ↑03 Apr 2020, 19:39 The ugliest thing is not necessarily the acts themselves, but the mindset of the people performing them. Sadly, the human mind can be such an ugly thing, and it's something that we've seen throughout our own history. One of the things that grossed me out was what they did to Kalin to dehumanize him.

This is a really good point. It is disturbing to think about the ugliness of people who can commit atrocious acts upon others. The torturous acts performed in the book are cruel and dehumanizing. Mason and Dennison trying to dehumanize Kaling was pretty ugly and disturbing.

I totally agree with you both! To think about the ugliness of the mindset of the people is really disturbing and saddening.
The cruel and dehumanizing acts all birthed from the minds of people!
Mason and Dennison were something else...

The ugliest aspect to me was the deception from Mason and Dennison from the start. The audacity to abduct and alter a college student was sick.

I thought that the ugliest part for me was that everyone knew how badly the Projects were being treated and no one really did anything to stop it except for Renfield. And even then it was only for Kata. They just let it continue. No one really stood up in any meaningful manner for the Projects. Even Chatton just talked mostly.

Everyone implicitly let the system of torture and degradation continue. And with irony, a system that Kalin was going to join before he got caught.

Honestly? The very beginning of the book set the tone for the atrocious acts that would be done throughout the book. We saw a mans life and identity be taken from him so soon and saw all the lies that were set into motion to make this happen. Even before we saw Kata being taken and his life and identity stripped away we saw Project Tau and how he was controlled and called an it and not considered human. We saw the cruelty that humans can exhibit in the name of scientist research.

Despite the other threads, I personally was shocked at the lack of humanity shown to the clones. It reminded me of the way in which African slaves were treated when they were brought to the Americas to work on the plantations. It showed me how humans have an ugly or dark side that can come out if given the right conditions. This book also serves as somewhat of a cautionary tale about the dangers of the overuse or over dependence on technology.

Arimart99 wrote: ↑03 Apr 2020, 19:39 The ugliest thing is not necessarily the acts themselves, but the mindset of the people performing them. Sadly, the human mind can be such an ugly thing, and it's something that we've seen throughout our own history. One of the things that grossed me out was what they did to Kalin to dehumanize him.

It seems that dehumanizing someone makes it easier to justify outrages. I agree with your comments about the mindset of the antagonists.