In re-finishing up the amazing novel Maelstrom, by Peter Watts, I ran across an interesting idea contained within basically a sentence. Which is really par for the course with Watts, with huge chunks of story suddenly going from ambiguous to goosebump-inducing clarity with a single phrase or even word.

"Conscience is overrated anyway," Jovellanos said all around them.
"Give it a rest, Alice," Desjardins said, rubbing his wrists.
"I'm serious. Think about it: not everyone even has a conscience, and the people that do are invariably exploited by the ones that don't. Conscience is--irrational, when you get right down to it."

What I’m most interested in is the second posit Alice Jovellanos brings up, that perhaps not everyone has a conscience (and I’m sure that’s not a black and white, conscience or no conscience thing). I guess, just looking back, I remember people I’ve known or know, or met at the hospital, hell, that I’ve been intimate with, that were as honestly baffled by my expression of being troubled by my conscience as I was baffled by their inability to understand the concepts within the family of guilt/remorse/having a conscience.

I guess it just makes me question my assumption of yore that our inability to come to terms on that aspect of self was simply miscommunication – maybe, instead, it really is something like the novel describes on other pages, that they’re just not as physically (in the brain structure/chemistry sense) able to have a conscience. Which brings up the questions, is it rather that it’s rather flipflopped, and having a conscience is more like having a handicap? And if true, would it really be that much of a ‘nature’ thing – how much would ‘nurture’ play into it?

I have to say, I'm already very enamored of 300. One, it's based off an epic graphic novel. That's got me going to it already. Two, it's by Frank Miller, which means stylized in my mind, and if you know me, you know that's what I like. Three, it's about Sparta and Persia, one of my favorite historical periods. Four, it looks awesome.