Michael Crichton''s science fiction novel, Next, is based on a logical extension of the interactions between the current state of scientific and technological capabilities and the law, as it is presently applied by courts. The author interweaves the stories of three separate groups of characters affected by bio-technology: A family whose cells are known to produce cancer-fighting chemicals; a family whose researcher-father successfully splices his own genome into that of a chimpanzee, resulting in a chimpanzee who can talk, and an African Grey parrot whose genetic makeup includes sentience as well as the ability to produce language. While the actual circumstances in the book may seem implausible, the legal ramifications of technology outstripping the ethicists'' ability to analyze it are very real. It has been said that all good science fiction has a political agenda, and Crichton clearly elaborates his in an Afterword.