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Some people wonder whether one
day man will use his technology to create God. More likely, man
will use his technology to create a machine that thinks that
technology has created God and acts accordingly.
In April 1941, Astounding
Science Fiction published the short story "Reason" by Isaac Asimov,
which was later adapted for television as "The Prophet" for the second
series of Out of the Unknown in 1967. It told of
two robot technicians, Powell and Donovan, who assemble a new class of
robot designed to oversee operations on a microwave solar power
station in heliocentric orbit. The robot, named QT-1 or "Cutie"
for short, then shows off its superior intellect by indulging in
some of the silliest cod logic and sophistry ever to grace the pages
of science fiction to prove that not only wasn't QT-1 built by human
beings, but that the solar power unit is God and that QT-1 is his
prophet. Before you can say "predictable" the new religion
spreads through the station, Powell and Donovan are under house
arrest, and the entire robot workforce is worshiping the power
unit and singing hymns composed by Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiphonics workshop.
It's a good job they're all on a station in deep
space or QT-1 would have had the lot out on street corners handing out
pamphlets.. |
