Read Online Destination: Void: Prequel to the Pandora Sequence by Frank Herbert - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Frank Herbert
Ads: Link
Bickel.
“You can’t monitor every nuance of your machine’s behavior,” Flattery said. “You can’t be certain of every way its circuits may interact.”
“Yeah,” Bickel said. “Adding all the parts doesn’t give you the sum you want—or need. So why wouldn’t those numbskulls at UMB build their circuits around Eng multipliers? Answer me that.”
Timberlake glanced at Flattery, thought: Go ahead! Get Bickel started on that subject. He’s Johnny One-Note on that one!
“There was some mention back at UMB,” Flattery said, “that you were trying to get them to use—”
“Trying?” Bickel snarled. “I practically got down on my knees and begged. They acted like I was a moron, kept saying computers only add—even when they’re multiplying it’s only series addition. They kept this up until I—”
“You offered no logical circuit changes,” Flattery said. “That’s the way I heard it.”
“Because I didn’t get the chance,” Bickel said. “Look! The Eng multiplier is solid-state and small enough to fit into any of our miniaturization requirements. It works something like a cathode follower, so the circuit requirements aren’t too weird for us to follow. It’s essentially a multiplier. Depending on the circuitry, it’ll take several potentials of linear, semilinear or even nonlinear circuits and it’ll yield a potential which is the product of the inputs. It multiplies them. But what’s more important, when you reverse the circuitry, you get a device that taps a circuits—divides it, mind you—at a point which varies with the load. It works like a nerve cell!”
“The UMB team must’ve had good reason not to take you up on this,” Prudence said. “If they—”
“They said I hadn’t proved this was an analogue of organic function,” Bickel sneered. “Hadn’t proved it! Keerist! They wouldn’t even spare me computer time to work out test circuitry. Everything was tied up trying to define consciousness.”
“You buy their definition, don’t you?” Flattery asked.
“If I did, I wouldn’t’ve asked them to define it again,” Bickel snorted. “I’ve had about all the label juggling I can stomach. Consciousness is pure awareness, they said. Then what about the objects of consciousness? I ask. Disregard them, they say. It’s pure awareness. What’s awareness without an object to focus on? I ask. Not important, they say. It’s pure awareness. Then they turn right around and say this pure awareness is a pattern of three primary forces. What are these three primary forces? An ‘I’ entity plus the organism of this entity plus everything external which could act as a stimulus. Plus objects! But that’s not it, they say. This merely means pure awareness juggles three factors and it’s a senseless complication to try to multiply them two and two when you could add them and follow the circuits in a much more direct fashion.”
“You’re oversimplifying the argument,” Prudence said.
“All right, I’m oversimplifying! But those are the essentials.”
“And you had a ready answer, of course,” she said.
“I’ve already told you I couldn’t beg, borrow, or steal any computer time.”
“But you insist you can prove your—”
“Look,” Bickel said, “they told me I couldn’t prove an organic analogue. But I know I can.”
“You just know it,” she said. “You can’t find words to quite—”
“When you’ve worked with as many thoughtput instrumentation and computer designs as I have,” he said, “you get a feeling for function. There are times when you can just look at the design of a circuit and you know immediately how it’s supposed to function. You don’t need the manufacturer’s specifications.”
“Do I understand you correctly?” Flattery asked. “You’re referring to God as a manufacturer? If that’s—”
“Go ahead!” Bickel snapped. “Look at the design of the human cerebellum. Don’t try to pick a fight with me over
“You can’t monitor every nuance of your machine’s behavior,” Flattery said. “You can’t be certain of every way its circuits may interact.”
“Yeah,” Bickel said. “Adding all the parts doesn’t give you the sum you want—or need. So why wouldn’t those numbskulls at UMB build their circuits around Eng multipliers? Answer me that.”
Timberlake glanced at Flattery, thought: Go ahead! Get Bickel started on that subject. He’s Johnny One-Note on that one!
“There was some mention back at UMB,” Flattery said, “that you were trying to get them to use—”
“Trying?” Bickel snarled. “I practically got down on my knees and begged. They acted like I was a moron, kept saying computers only add—even when they’re multiplying it’s only series addition. They kept this up until I—”
“You offered no logical circuit changes,” Flattery said. “That’s the way I heard it.”
“Because I didn’t get the chance,” Bickel said. “Look! The Eng multiplier is solid-state and small enough to fit into any of our miniaturization requirements. It works something like a cathode follower, so the circuit requirements aren’t too weird for us to follow. It’s essentially a multiplier. Depending on the circuitry, it’ll take several potentials of linear, semilinear or even nonlinear circuits and it’ll yield a potential which is the product of the inputs. It multiplies them. But what’s more important, when you reverse the circuitry, you get a device that taps a circuits—divides it, mind you—at a point which varies with the load. It works like a nerve cell!”
“The UMB team must’ve had good reason not to take you up on this,” Prudence said. “If they—”
“They said I hadn’t proved this was an analogue of organic function,” Bickel sneered. “Hadn’t proved it! Keerist! They wouldn’t even spare me computer time to work out test circuitry. Everything was tied up trying to define consciousness.”
“You buy their definition, don’t you?” Flattery asked.
“If I did, I wouldn’t’ve asked them to define it again,” Bickel snorted. “I’ve had about all the label juggling I can stomach. Consciousness is pure awareness, they said. Then what about the objects of consciousness? I ask. Disregard them, they say. It’s pure awareness. What’s awareness without an object to focus on? I ask. Not important, they say. It’s pure awareness. Then they turn right around and say this pure awareness is a pattern of three primary forces. What are these three primary forces? An ‘I’ entity plus the organism of this entity plus everything external which could act as a stimulus. Plus objects! But that’s not it, they say. This merely means pure awareness juggles three factors and it’s a senseless complication to try to multiply them two and two when you could add them and follow the circuits in a much more direct fashion.”
“You’re oversimplifying the argument,” Prudence said.
“All right, I’m oversimplifying! But those are the essentials.”
“And you had a ready answer, of course,” she said.
“I’ve already told you I couldn’t beg, borrow, or steal any computer time.”
“But you insist you can prove your—”
“Look,” Bickel said, “they told me I couldn’t prove an organic analogue. But I know I can.”
“You just know it,” she said. “You can’t find words to quite—”
“When you’ve worked with as many thoughtput instrumentation and computer designs as I have,” he said, “you get a feeling for function. There are times when you can just look at the design of a circuit and you know immediately how it’s supposed to function. You don’t need the manufacturer’s specifications.”
“Do I understand you correctly?” Flattery asked. “You’re referring to God as a manufacturer? If that’s—”
“Go ahead!” Bickel snapped. “Look at the design of the human cerebellum. Don’t try to pick a fight with me over
Similar Books
