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seemed hotter than I deemed necessary, partly because of semantics. The word intelligence has all sorts
of tag-along associations of the non-physical sort. I suppose it goes back to the fact that early discussions
and conjectures concerning it made it sound as if the potential for intelligence was always present in the
array of gadgets, and that the correct procedures, the right programs, simply had to be found to call it
forth. When you looked at it that way, as many did, it gave rise to an uncomfortable deja-vu, namely,
vitalism. The philosophical battles of the nineteenth century were hardly so far behind that they had been
forgotten, and the doctrine which maintained that life is caused and sustained by a vital principle apart
from physical and chemical forces, and that life is self-sustaining and self-evolving, had put up quite a fight
before Darwin and his successors had produced triumph after triumph for the mechanistic view. Then
vitalism sort of crept back into things again when the AI discussions arose in the middle of the past
century. It would seem that Dave had fallen victim to it, and that he'd come to believe he had helped
provide an unsanctified vessel and filled it with Something intended only for those things which had made
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the scene in the first chapter of Genesis ...
With computers it was not quite as bad as with the Hangman, though, because you could always argue
that no matter how elaborate the program, it was basically an extension of the programmer's will and the
operations of causal machines merely represented functions of intelligence, rather than intelligence in its
own right backed by a will of its own. And there was always Godel for a theoretical cordon sanitaire,
with his demonstration of the true but mechanically improvable proposition.
But the Hangman was quite different. It had been designed along the lines of a brain and at least partly
educated in a human fashion; and to further muddy the issue with respect to anything like vitalism, it had
been in direct contact with human minds from which it might have acquired almost anything, including the
spark that set it on the road to whatever selfhood it may have found. What did that make it? Its own
creature? A fractured mirror reflecting a fractured humanity? Both? Or neither? I certainly could not say,
but I wondered how much of its self had been truly its own. It had obviously acquired a great number of
functions, but was it capable of having real feelings? Could it, for example, feel something like love? If
not, then it was still only a collection of complex abilities, and not a thing with all the tagalong associations
of the non-physical sort which made the word intelligence such a prickly item in AI discussions; and if it
were capable of, say, something like love, and if I were Dave, I would not feel guilty about having helped
to bring it into being. I would feel proud, though not in the fashion he was concerned about, and I would
also feel humble ... Offhand though, I do not know how intelligent I would feel, because I am still not sure
what the hell intelligence is.
The day's-end sky was clear when we landed. I was into town before the sun had finished setting, and
on Philip Burns' doorstep just a little while later.
My ring was answered by a girl, maybe seven or eight years old. She fixed me with large brown eyes
and did not say a word.
I would like to speak with Mister Burns, I said. She turned and retreated around a comer. A heavyset
man, slacked and undershirted, bald about halfway back and very pink, padded into the hall moments
later and peered at me. He bore a folded newssheet in his left hand.
What do you want? he asked.
It's about your brother, I answered.
Yeah?
Well, I wonder if I could come in? It's kind of complicated.
He opened the door. But instead of letting me in, he came out.
Tell me about it out here, he said.
Okay, I'll be quick. I just wanted to find out whether he ever spoke with you about a piece of equipment
he once worked with called the Hangman.
Are you a cop?
No.
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Then what's your interest?
I am working for a private investigation agency trying to track down some equipment once associated
with the project. It has apparently turned up ia this area and it could be rather dangerous.
Let's see some identification.
I don't carry any.
What's your name?
John Donne.
And you think my brother had some stolen equipment when he died? Let me tell you something ...
No. Not stolen, I said, and I don't think he had it.
What then?
It was, well, robotic in nature. Because of some special training Manny once received, he might have
had a way of detecting it. He might even have attracted it. I just want to find out whether he had said
anything about it. We are trying to locate it.
My brother was a respectable businessman, and I don't like accusations. Especially right after his
funeral, I don't. I think I'm going to call the cops and let them ask you a few questions.
Just a minute. Supposing I told you we had some reason to believe it might have been this piece of
equipment that killed your brother?
His pink turned to bright red and his jaw muscles formed sudden ridges. I was not prepared for the
stream of profanities that followed. For a moment, I thought he was going to take a swing at me.
Wait a second, I said when he paused for breath. What did I say?
You're either making fun of the dead or you're stupider than you look!
Say I'm stupid. Then tell me why.
He tore at the paper he carried, folded it back, found an item, thrust it at me.
Because they've got the guy who did it! That's why, he said.
I read it. Simple, concise, to the point. Today's latest. A suspect had confessed. New evidence had
corroborated it. The man was in custody. A surprised robber who had lost his head and hit too hard, hit
too many times. I read it over again.
I nodded as I passed it back.
Look, I'm sorry, I said. I really didn't know about this.
Get out of here, he said. Go on.
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Sure.
Wait a minute.
What?
That's his little girl who answered the door, he said.
I'm very sorry.
So am I. But I know her Daddy didn't take your damned equipment.
I nodded and turned away.
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