Pages
▼
Monday, 13 September 2010
3 comments:
Rules for submitting comments:
1. No profanity. I maintain the pretense that this is a family-friendly site.
2. Stay on topic. A bit of straying and off-hand commenting is okay, but hijacking the discussion is right out.
3. No ad hominem attacks. Attack the subject, not the other person on the thread and keep the discussion civil.
4. No spamming or commercial endorsements. These get deleted immediately.
Tip: Beware of putting hyperlinks in your comments–especially at the end. For some reason, Blogger interprets these as spam.
Note: Due to the recent spate of anonymous spamming, registration for comments is now required.
In part 2 he wonders if society could survive The Replicator,
ReplyDeleteand guesses people would adapt.
There was a 1950s or so SF short story about that.
In the story two copying machines just show up someplace.
They look like two plates on a platform with a button and a warning.
(Use with care? Not responsible for misuse? I can't remember.)
Anything on one platform is duplicated on the other, except for living creatures. They're copied dead.
The first thing copied, of course, is the other copier. Eventually there are millions of them.
Money becomes valueless as it's all assumed counterfiet. In the story they switch to checking accounts.
I think it was a test of the human race conducted by aliens.
The correct answer was to smash all the copiers.
The humans instead adapted.
Can anyone name the story, author
and year?
Business as Usual, During Alterations, Ralph Williams, 1958.
ReplyDeleteAs me another one, Magnus.
Thanks.... I just reread it on line.
ReplyDeleteMr. William's short story instantly duplicated out of nothing.
The story didn't mention all the garbage that
would be generated.
Geesh! DAILY trash pickup would be required!
THE Aliens should have showed up the next week
offering to lease unduplicatable dispose-alls.
The 'something for nothing' part of the story
rubs me the wrong way.
It shouldn't.
Isn't 96% of the universe God-knows-what?
THAT could be where the machines got their
working mass.