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"In science fiction one can say a great many things that are unpalatable, … because it's expressed as science fiction you can slip it past their defenses."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Private Eye Software | ||
| Sam Spade from 1s and 0s. |
The computer in this story is an amazing prediction of modern agentic AIs. It pursues different lines of inquiry, all through networked information, to solve cases for clients.
| It's not the same, in more ways than one. Not only don't I have the old-style private eye's perquisites — the snappy secretary in the anteroom and the secreted schnapps in the files — I don't have the old-style private eye's prerequisites — the easy ethics and moderate morals, or should I say his willingness to bend the law in the greater service of the law.
My software — another name for my conscience — won't let me add serifs to the letter of the law. That doesn't mean I don't have an esthetic feeling for the spirit of the law. What I do have is a built-in sense of justice — another name for right and wrong, on and off, 1 and 0. Plus, I have a built-in sense of duty — another name for the urge to pursue the truth, to gather and process every last bit and byte of information relevant to a client's case, to complete a cycle... I live up to what I say in my ad - that I guarantee to solve your case while you wait, or your money back. |
| Technovelgy from Finger of Fate,
by Edward Wellen. Published by Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1980 Additional resources -
|
In spite of the fact that the Internet didn't exist for private use in 1980, the computer has its own PI license and in this story it
Too much thinking. Time for me to analogize a drink.
The ending shows that it is able to navigate human customs and doubts:
Justice turns out to be something more than right and wrong, on and off, 1 and 0. It's a painful concept. But there's pleasure in it too. It's hard to find, it's hard to escape. It's everywhere — if you know where to look. Look hard enough at any set of circumstances, and you'll find justice, though you may be the only one to see it being done.
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'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
