Я, Робот
The Evitable Conflict
Inshort,Idon’tknowthatIcanhelpyou,Stephen."
TheCo-ordinatorlaughedshortly,"Nevertheless,letmetellyoutherest.Letmegiveyoumytheories,andperhapsyouwillthenbeabletotellmewhethertheyarepossibleinthelightofrobopsychology."
"Byallmeans.Goahead."
"Well,sincetheMachinesaregivingthewronganswers,then,assumingthattheycannotbeinerror,thereisonlyonepossibility.Theyarebeinggiventhewrongdata!Inotherwords,thetroubleishuman,andnotrobotic.SoItookmyrecentplanetaryinspectiontour-"
"FromwhichyouhavejustreturnedtoNewYork."
"Yes.Itwasnecessary,yousee,sincetherearefourMachines,onehandlingeachofthePlanetaryRegions.Andallfourareyieldingimperfectresults."
"Oh,butthatfollows,Stephen.IfanyoneoftheMachinesisimperfect,thatwillautomaticallyreflectintheresultoftheotherthree,sinceeachoftheotherswillassumeaspartofthedataonwhichtheybasetheirowndecisions,theperfectionoftheimperfectfourth.Withafalseassumption,theywillyieldfalseanswers."
"Uh-huh.Soitseemedtome.Now,IhaveheretherecordsofmyinterviewswitheachoftheRegionalVice-Coordinators.Wouldyoulookthroughthemwithme?-Oh,andfirst,haveyouheardofthe`SocietyforHumanity’?"
"Umm,yes.TheyareanoutgrowthoftheFundamentalistswhohavekeptU.S.Robotsfromeveremployingpositronicrobotsonthegroundsofunfairlaborcompetitionandsoon.The’SocietyforHumanity’itselfisanti-Machine,isitnot?"
"Yes,yes,but-Well,youwillsee.