THE COSMIC COMPUTER

Back Forward Menu

"Now wait a minute, Mother. You're talking to a computerman now."
Professional authority was something his mother oughtn't to question. "A
computer like Merlin isn't intelligent, or wise, or anything of the
sort. It doesn't think; the people who make computers and use them do
the thinking. A computer's a tool, like a screwdriver; it has to have a
man to use it."

"Well, but...."

"And please, don't talk about what people are /meant/ to do. People
aren't /meant/ to do things; they /mean/ to do things, and nine times
out of ten, they end by doing them. It may take a hundred thousand years
from a Stone Age savage in a cave to the captain of a hyperspace ship,
but sooner or later they get there."

His mother was silent. The soulless machine that had been clearing the
table floated out of the room, the dishwasher in its rectangular belly