Я, Робот
The Evitable Conflict
"Itakeit,forinstance,fromwhatyouhavesaidalready,thatyouworryabouttherecenttriflingdislocationinworldeconomy.Idon’tknowwhatyoususpect,butithashappenedinthepastthatpeople–whoshouldhaveknownbetter–wonderedwhatwouldhappeniffalsedatawerefedintotheMachine."
"Andwhatwouldhappen,Mr.Mackenzie?"
"Well,"theScotsmanshiftedhisweightandsighed,"allcollecteddatagoesthroughacomplicatedscreeningsystemwhichinvolvesbothhumanandmechanicalchecking,sothattheproblemisnotlikelytoarise.-Butletusignorethat.Humansarefallible,alsocorruptible,andordinarymechanicaldevicesareliabletomechanicalfailure.
"Therealpointofthematteristhatwhatwecalla`wrongdatum’isonewhichisinconsistentwithallotherknowndata.Itisouronlycriterionofrightandwrong.ItistheMachine’saswell.Orderitforinstance,todirectagriculturalactivityonthebasisofanaverageJulytemperatureinIowaof57degreesFahrenheit.Itwon’tacceptthat.Itwillnotgiveananswer.-Notthatithasanyprejudiceagainstthatparticulartemperature,orthatananswerisimpossible;butbecause,inthelightofalltheotherdatafeditoveraperiodofyears,itknowsthattheprobabilityofanaverageJulytemperatureof57isvirtuallynil.Itrejectsthatdatum.
