perm filename SIMUL[1,JMC] blob
sn#005273 filedate 1970-08-18 generic text, type T, neo UTF8
00100 CREATIVITY IS AS CREATIVITY DOES
00200
00300 John McCarthy opened then long envelope with the blue emblem.
00400 It was just as he feared:
00500
00600 DEPARTMENT OF SIMULATION
00700 OFFICE OF INTAKE
00800
00900 May 15, 2145
01000
01100 Professor John McCarthy
01200 846 Lathrop Drive
01300 Stanford, California 94305
01400
01500 Dear Professor McCarthy:
01600
01700 I am sure you are aware of the world's acute problems of the
01800 balance between population and resources. In order that humanity may
01900 be able to continue on this planet, every possible measure has to be
02000 taken to conserve material and energy.
02100
02200 In the year 2070, Lester Earnest developed a procedure for
02300 determining the total personalty of a human being from external
02400 measurements, in2097, Scheinman discovered how to program such a
02500 measured personality into a robot or simu-man, as he called it. In
02600 2120, the Poole Act was passed to use Earnest's and Scheinman's
02700 inventions to conserve resources. This act provides that any person
02800 whose personality has been measured well enough to predict his
02900 actions in response to all stimuli for a period of two years is
03000 considered a candidate for replacement by a robot simulation having
03100 the personality measured. In order to avoid the danger of losing
03200 some of the creative potential of the human race, it is further
03300 provided that the replacement not take place for a further six
03400 months. If during that time, the human in question performs acts not
03500 predicted by the simulation, the replacement will not take place, and
03600 the question shall not be re-opened for a further fifty years.
03700
03800 I am sure you will be happy to learn that your personality
03900 has been successfully measured and that you are now a candidate for
04000 replacement. Needless to say, this replacement will give you
04100 effective protection against accidental death since the internal data
04200 recorder of the simu-man is virtually indestructible and a new
04300 simu-man can be programmed from the record. Diseases, except for
04400 those considered part of your personality structure, can also be
04500 eliminated, except, of course, for your terminal illness, which is
04600 deemed an essential aspect of your life.
04700
04800 Of course, the six months trial period still has to be gone
04900 through, but we rarely have troubles there any more.
05000
05100 Again let me congratulate you.
05200
05300 Sincerely yours,
05400
05500
05600 Whitfield Diffie
05700 Chief, Office of Intake
05800
05900 Contrary to the expectations of the letter, John McCarthy was
06000 not at all happy to receive it. McCarthy had recently become an
06100 adherent of the primitive doctrine of humanism and believed that each
06200 human had something in him that no machine could imitate. He did not
06300 believe that any machine could really love, suffer, or be creative.
06400 Being replaced by a simulation was to him, strangely enough,
06500 equivalent to dying. Therefore, John McCarthy took action.
06600
06700 Forthwith he journeyed to Mexico where he ate the magic
06800 mushroom, joined the cult of Sri Petit at its headquarters on the
06900 slopes of Mount Popacatapetl. Obeying the injunctions of his Guru
07000 Helliwell to be himself, he initiated the dangerous sport of
07100 parachuting into active volcanoes with a refrigerated asbestos suit
07200 and riding the lava flow down the mountain. Then, devising a special
07300 snorkel for sleeping in the water, a special grease to protect his
07400 body from the salt water, and special fishing equipment, and
07500 accustoming himself to a diet of raw fish, and having his kidney
07600 surgically modified to produce urine of greater salt concentration
07700 than sea water, he became the first person to swim the Atlantic,
07800 choosing for historical and sentimental reasons to swim from New York
07900 to Paris. This feat was met with world-wide acclaim, and,
08000 incidentally, the six months passed while he was in mid-Atlantic.
08100
08200 After returning home he spent the next few weeks in great
08300 trepidation, but as time went by with no word from the Bureau of
08400 Simulation, he began to feel more confident. Two months later there
08500 came another letter in an envelope with the familiar blue emblem.
08600
08700 BUREAU OF SIMULATION
08800 OFFICE OF INTAKE
08900
09000 March 12, 2146
09100
09200 Professor John McCarthy
09300 846 Lathrop Drive
09400 Stanford, California 94305
09500
09600 Dear Professor McCarthy:
09700
09800 Allow me to congratulate you on your remarkable feat of
09900 devising a means of swimming the Atlantic and carrying it out in the
10000 remarkably short time of six months. It shows great ingenuity,
10100 persistence, and creativity. We were sure you had it in you.
10200
10300 You will also be happy to know that the simulation program
10400 predicted this remarkable success in response to the stimulus of our
10500 letter in complete detail. Therefore, it is my great pleasure to
10600 inform you that at the end of the six months trial period, your
10700 corporeal self was replaced by the simu-man robot programmed
10800 according to your previously measured personality. The high regard
10900 the Bureau has for you is evidenced by the fact that the Director,
11000 Dr. Sobel, took personal charge of the difficult task of performing
11100 the replacement in mid-Atlantic. You are now a simu-man with all
11200 its attendant advantages.
11300
11400 Again, let me congratulate you.
11500
11600
11700 Sincerely yours,
11800
11900
12000 Al Dulan
12100 Chief, Office of Intake
12200
12300 At first, this disturbed and depressed Professor McCarthy
12400 quite a lot, but after a while, he got used to it and even saw the
12500 advantages of being a robot.