Chapter 4 Chapter 3 Reasoning

After half a year they changed their minds.The huge sun's flame was replaced by the black sky of space.However, changes in the environment have little to do with the work of inspecting experimental robots.Because no matter where you are, you will encounter the enigmatic positronic brain.Here's how this positronic brain would have worked, in the words of those "slide rule-drawing genius designers." However it is not.Powell and Donovan discovered this within two weeks of being on the station. Gregory Powell spelled out what he said word for word: "Donovan and I put you together a week ago." He frowned, twirling his brown beard.

The staff office at Solar Station 5 was very quiet, nothing could be heard except the hum of a powerful beam radiator coming from somewhere below. The QT-1 robot sat motionless.Its steel armor gleamed in the bright light, and the red photocells that replaced its eyes gazed at the visitor from Earth sitting across the table. Powell suppressed the sudden burst of nerve impulse.The minds of these robots are a little strange.It is true that the "Three Laws of Robotics" still work and should work.The entire US Robots crew—from Robertson himself to the new cleaners—can vouch for this.So QT-1 is "insurance".However, the QT type is a completely new type of robot, and this is the first test sample of it.Mathematical formula symbols on paper are not always reassuring in the face of robotic facts.

The robot finally spoke.Its voice has an icy timbre—an inescapable hallmark of a metal vocal cord: "Can you imagine the seriousness of that statement, can you, Powell?" "But someone had to make you, Cutie?" Powell pointed out. "Your own memory, by your own admission, sprang from scratch only a week ago. I can explain this, it's Donovan." and I assembled you from the parts shipped." Cutie stared at his slender and soft fingers with a human mysterious expression. "I think there should be a more real explanation. I find it hard to believe that you made me."

The people on earth suddenly laughed: "In the name of the earth, may I ask you, why?" "You can call it an intuition. It's just an intuition for the time being. But I plan to figure it out. A series of correct logical reasoning will eventually lead to the determination of the truth. I must persist in achieving my goal." Powell got up and sat down at the table next to the robot.He suddenly had a strong liking for this strange machine.It was nothing like ordinary robots, those robots trying to do the work in the pre-programmed station, obeying the command of the pre-programmed stable positron circuit.

He put a hand out and put it on Cutie's steel shoulder, the metal felt cold and hard to the touch. "Cutie," he said, "I'm about to explain something to you. You're the first robot to ever show curiosity about its own existence. I think you're the first really smart enough to understand Robots from the outside world. Well, come with me." The robot stood up lightly and followed Powell.It had thick foam rubber shoes on its feet, so it didn't make any noise at all. The earthlings pressed a button, and a wall slid to the side, and through the thick transparent glass, the space full of stars could be seen.

"I've seen it through the observation windows in the engine room," Cutie said. "I know," Powell said. "Look, what's this?" "Exactly what it looks like: outside the window is a black thing, dotted with many small points of light. I know that our beam radiator is always aiming at some of these points. I also You know, the points move, the beam moves with it, that's all." "Okay! Now listen carefully. The black stuff is space. Space is vast. The little shiny dots are big chunks of matter that contain energy. They're all spheres. Some of them are millions of diameters Meters. For example, the width of this station is only 1,500 meters, and the spheres look small because they are so far away from us."

"The points our beams point to are closer and much smaller. They're hard, cold, and inhabited by billions of people like me. Donovan and I come from one of those worlds." .Our beams power the world from a great glowing ball of fire near us, which we call the Sun, which cannot be seen from this side, which is on the other side of the station." Cutie stood motionless at the window like a steel statue.It didn't turn its head when it spoke: "Which special bright spot did you come from?" Powell took a closer look and said: "Here, it's the very bright little star on the corner. We call it the Earth." He smiled and said: "What a wonderful, what an old Earth! There are 3 billion people like us there , Cutie. I'm going back to them in a fortnight."

Much to Powell's surprise, Cutie snorted indifferently.The hum had no pitch, but it was like plucking strings.The sound stopped suddenly, as suddenly as it had come. "But where did I come from? You haven't explained my existence, Powell." "The rest is simple. When these space stations were first built, they were operated by humans to transport the sun to other stars. However, due to the unfavorable conditions such as heat, solar radiation and electron storms, here It is difficult to work. So some robots are made to replace human labor. Now only two people are enough for each station. Even for these two people, we try to replace them with robots. This is the meaning of your presence. You are One of the most complete robots ever built. If you have the ability to control this station independently, there will be no need for people to come here in the future, except to send some spare parts for repairs."

He reached out and pressed the button, and the metal observation window cover quickly closed. Er went back to the table and picked up an apple, wiped it on his sleeve, and then gnawed it. The red light from the robot's eyes attracted him.Cutie said slowly, "Do you think I'm going to believe that whole set of complicated, unbelievable hypotheses you just described? Who do you take me for?!" Powell spat out a bit of an apple on the table, flushing. "Hui, hell, this is not a hypothesis! This is a fact!" Cutie said with a straight face: "Those big balls of energy with a diameter of a million miles! A world with three billion people! Infinite space! Excuse me, Powell, I don't believe it. I have to think about it for myself .goodbye!"

It turned and stalked proudly out of the room, brushing past Michael Donovan in the doorway; and nodding gravely to him, went down the corridor, ignoring the amazed gaze that followed him. Michael Donovan brushed his reddish-brown hair back, glanced at Powell angrily, and said, "What does this walking piece of scrap metal say? What doesn't it believe?" Powell pulled his beard sadly. "It's a skeptic," he replied sadly. "It doesn't believe that we created it, that the earth, the universe, and the stars exist." "A Jupiter on fire! Now we have a crazy robot!"

"It also said it was going to figure it out for itself." "Very well," Donovan said gently to him, "I hope when it's figured out, it'll explain all this to me graciously." Suddenly he snapped at him again, "Listen, what if this pile of crap Iron talk to me like that, and I'll knock off its chromed skull!" He sat down abruptly, and pulled a paperback thriller from the inside pocket of his jacket, "This robot is killing me , its curiosity is too much!" Michael Donovan was muttering what the hell, continuing to eat a large sandwich with lettuce and tomato, when Cutie entered the room after knocking softly on the door. "Is Powell here?" Donovan lowered his voice, and while chewing, he replied: "He is collecting data on the electron flow function. It seems that there will be a storm." Powell walked in while he was talking.He didn't take his eyes off the chart he held in his hand.sit on the chair.He spread out the chart in front of him and began to calculate something hastily. Donovan looked over his shoulder, crunching lettuce and dropping crumbs. Cutie waited beside him. Powell looked up and said, "The A-voltage is rising, but slowly. Anyway, the current function is unstable, and I don't know what's going on. Hey, hello, Cutie. I think you'll check later A new device. These robots should obey us, according to the second law." "What's the point of saying that? They won't listen to us. There's probably something to it, we just found out too late, and by the way, you know what happens to us when we get back to base?" He stopped in front of Donovan's chair and looked at him angrily. "what?" "Ah, nothing. Maybe twenty years back in the mines of Mercury, or in a prison on Ceres." "What did you say?" "I'm talking about an electron burst, and it's right in front of you. Did you know that our beam to Earth is going to go right through the center of it? I just had time to figure it out when the robot dragged me away from the table." Donovan paled, "Jupiter on fire!" "You know what happens to the beam, don't you? The storm dances wildly. The beam jumps back and forth like a flea. If only Cutie was around the instrument, the ray would be defocused. Can you imagine what would happen to the Earth? You What will happen to me?" Powell didn't finish, and Donovan slammed on the door in despair.The door opened and he flew down the corridor.Suddenly a steel hand blocked the way. The robot looked calmly at the panting earthling: "The spokesperson ordered you to stay in the room. Please obey!" With a wave of its hand, Donovan was pushed back.At this time, Cutie appeared in the corridor.He gestured to the robot to leave, walked into the clerk's office, and closed the door gently. Gasping angrily, Donovan yells at Cutie, "This is going too far. You're going to pay for the comedy." "Please don't get excited," the robot replied mildly. "Sooner or later, this will always happen. See, the functions of the two of you have been cancelled." "I'm sorry," Powell straightened up. "What does this mean? We've lost our functions?" "Before I was created, you served the Lord," replied Cutie. "Now that is my privilege, and the only meaning of your existence is gone. Isn't that obvious?" "Not quite," retorted Powell bitterly. "So, what do you say you're going to do now?" Cutie didn't answer right away, it seemed to be thinking about it.Then it put one arm around Powell's shoulder and the other around Donovan's waist and pulled him closer to him. "I like both of you. You are, of course, lower beings, your thinking powers are limited, and I really have some sympathy for you. You have done a good job for the Master, and He will reward you for it. Now that your business is done, it seems that your time of existence is short. However, you will survive for the time being, and you will be given food, clothing and shelter, provided you do not try to get into the control room and the engine room. " "Greg, it's forcing us to retire!" Donovan yelled. "You give it a hard time! That's an insult!" "Listen to me, Cutie. We can't agree, we are the masters here. The station is built by people, people like us, who live on Earth and other planets. This is just a transfer of energy It's just a station. And you are just one, a bunch of lunatics!" Cutie shook his head seriously, "This is already a far-fetched idea. Why do you insist on such a completely false concept of life? If you notice that it is not robots whose thinking ability is limited, then it is always a question like this... ". It stopped, thinking. Donovan whispered angrily, "If you're born with a face of flesh and blood, I'll beat you!" Powell pulled his beard and squinted his eyes, "Listen to me, Cutie, since you don't admit the existence of the earth, then explain, what do you see in the telescope?" "Sorry, I do not understand." Earthlings smiled, "Well, you've hit a wall, you've looked through the telescope more than once since we installed you, have you noticed that there are some glowing spots that become visible in this disk ?” "Oh, so it's this one! Of course! It's a normal magnification for more precise aiming of the beam." "Then why not magnify the other stars?" "Other points? Simply, we don't beam them, so there's no need to amplify them. I said, Powell, you should understand that too." Powell looked gloomily at the ceiling. "But there are more stars in the telescope. Where did they come from? Where did Jupiter come from, for instance?" Cutie was getting tired of this, "You know, Powell, should I waste my time trying to figure out the physical causes of all the optical illusions our instruments produce? Compared with the rigorous logic of "Listen," Donovan exclaimed suddenly, freeing himself from Cutie's friendly heavy metal arm, "let's see, basically, what the beam is for. I can come up with a good, logical explanation. You can explain it better." Is it better?" "The beam is released by the Lord according to His will." It replied bluntly, "Some things look up to us in admiration, and we don't need to delve into them. I just need to work hard to serve, not to ask the bottom line." Powell sat down slowly, covering his face with trembling hands, "Go, Cutie, go, let me..." "I'll get you some food." Cutie replied calmly. The only answer was a long sigh.The robot leaves. "Greg," Donovan whispered hoarsely, "we need to figure something out. We should short-circuit him by surprise and put a little nitric acid on his joints..." "Don't be a jackass, Michael. Do you think he'll let us get close to him with nitrate bottles? Listen, we should have a good talk with him. Within forty-eight hours we should convince him to let us in the control room, Otherwise things will be bad for us." He staggered back and forth with feeble rage, "forced to convince the machine that this is..." "Humiliation," Donovan added. "Even worse!" "Listen to me!" Donovan suddenly laughed, "Why bother to persuade? Let's show it! Let's assemble another robot in person, and see what it can say then?" A smile slowly formed on Powell's face.Donovan continued: "You can imagine, look at the face of this madman when we do this!" Of course, robots are made here on Earth.But it is easier to transport it disassembled, and then assembled on site.By the way, this also prevents some well-fitted robot from escaping and wandering around.Otherwise, "American Robots" will face severe sanctions from the Act banning the use of robots on Earth. So it fell to the likes of Powell and Donovan the daunting and complex task of assembling the robots. When they began to assemble the robot in the assembly room under the supervision of the QT-1 robot, the voice of the Lord, they found it more difficult than they did today. The MC-type ordinary robot that was about to be assembled was lying on the table.After three hours of work, only the head was left to install.Powell paused, wiping sweat from his brow, and shot Cutie a disbelieving glance. What he saw did not inspire him.It had been three hours and Cutie had sat there in silence.Its face was always expressionless, and this time it was completely unpredictable. "Hand me the brain, Michael," Powell said in a heavy voice. Donovan opened the sealed container, took out another smaller container from the full grease, opened this container again, and took out a small ball from the sea pumping rubber. Donovan held it with great care. It was the most complex mechanism ever created by man. Inside the thin platinum spherical shell was a positronic brain, implementing precisely calculated neutron pathways through its fragile structure, using pre-imbued knowledge to saturate the robot with its mind. The brain fits perfectly within the cavity of the skull of the robot lying on the table.Cover it with a blue metal sheet, and then use a tiny atomic energy flame to weld the metal sheet firmly.The photoelectric eye is then carefully mounted and screwed firmly into the eye socket, and covered with a thin sheet of clear plastic as hard as steel. All that remained was to bring the robot to life with a high-voltage discharge, and Powell reached for the switch. "Attention now, Cutie, look here carefully." The switch is turned on, only a chugging and humming is heard.The two terrestrials bent anxiously over their handiwork. At first, the robot's activities were not obvious, just a slight twitch of the joints.Then he raised his head, leaned on his elbows, and lumbered off the table.The robot's movements were still very awkward, as if when it was supposed to say words syllable by syllable, it made an unsuccessful squawking sound more than once. Finally it spoke.He hesitated and said, "I'd love to start working. Where do you send me?" Donovan walked towards the door, "Go down this ladder, and I'll tell you what to do." The MC-robot left, leaving the earthlings and Cutie, still motionless. "Okay," Powell grinned, "now you believe it? We made you." Cutie replied shortly and crisply: "No!" Powell's smile freezes, then slowly fades away.Donovan was also dumbfounded. "Do you see," continued Cutie calmly, "that you're just putting together what's already been made. You're doing a pretty good job of it--it's your instinct, I suppose. But don't you?" Truly create the robot. The parts are created by the Lord." "Listen," Donovan yelled hoarsely, "these parts were created on Earth and shipped here." "Okay, okay," said the robot, "let's not argue." "No! That's true," Donovan strode forward and grabbed the robot's metal hand, "If you have read the books in the library, they will explain everything to you, and you will no longer have any doubts. " "Books? I've read them all! Some brilliant hypotheses." Powell interrupted abruptly: "If you've read the books, what is there to say? You can't argue with the evidence! You mustn't!" Cutie said in a rueful tone, "No, Powell, I don't think they are serious sources of information at all. You know, they too were created by the Lord for you." "What is your basis?" Powell asked curiously. "I, as a thinking being, am good at finding truth out of innate situations. You sane beings are not good at reasoning, and need someone to explain to you why you exist. The Lord did this, It is no doubt a good thing that he has instilled in you these amusing ideas about distant worlds and human beings, perhaps your brains are too simple to perceive the absolute truth. But since the Lord is willing to make you believe your books, then I I won't argue with you any more. When it left, it turned around and added gently: "Don't be sad. In the world created by the Lord, everyone has their own place. You poor people have their own place too. Although this place is very ordinary , but as long as you perform better, you will be rewarded." It left with a satisfied air, as if it were the mouthpiece of the Lord.The two real people tried to avoid each other's eyes. Powell finally struggled and he said: "Let's go to bed, Michael, I give up." Donovan said softly, "Listen, Greg, you don't think it's all right about it, do you? It's so confident that even I..." Powell turned sharply to him and said, "Don't be confused! When the shift arrives next week, when we have to go back to Earth to face the consequences and hear the criticism, you will believe that there is no Earth." "Well, I swear to Jupiter, we should do something!" Donovan was on the verge of tears. "It doesn't trust us, or books, or its own eyes." "Don't believe it," Powell said sadly, "it's a rational robot, damn it!" "It only trusts reasoning, and that's the trouble..." His voice drew out. "Then why?" Donovan urged. "Strict logical reasoning can prove anything—it's a matter of what assumptions you start with. We have ours, and Cutie has his." "Then, let's find out its hypothesis quickly. The storm is coming tomorrow." Powell sighed wearily: "We can't do that. 'Assume' is always built on some kind of assumption and fixed by a belief. Nothing in heaven and earth can shake it. I'm going to sleep." "Oh, hell! I can't sleep!" "I can't sleep either! But I'm still going to try—in principle." Twelve hours later, sleep for them is unfortunately still only a principle, and it is actually an unrealized thing. The storm came earlier than they expected.Donovan's usually red face turned to dead gray, and he raised his trembling fingers.Powell, with a beard and chapped lips, was constantly looking out the window, tugging at his beard in despair. It might have been a pretty spectacular sight in another scenario: a stream of high-speed electrons meeting a beam carrying energy to Earth, sending out bright tiny sparks. Beams shot into ethereal space sparkle with flying bright dust. The beam is stable, but the two earthlings know that this phenomenon observed by the naked eye is not credible. An angular deviation of just a hundredth of a millisecond, imperceptible to the naked eye, is enough to defocus the beam and cause hundreds of square kilometers of Earth's surface to be impacted and incinerated. And two robots that don't care about beams, focus, or Earth, nothing but its master are manipulating in the control room. Hour by hour passed.Earthlings stare out the window as if hypnotized.Later, the sparks darting across the beam died out.At last the storm passed. "It's over!" Powell said dejectedly. Donovan was in a restless semi-comatose state.Powell looked at him enviously with weary eyes.The signal light flashed several times, but Powell paid no attention to it.It doesn't matter anymore, it's over!Maybe Cutie is right—maybe he and Donovan are really low beings with artificial memories, and their lives have lost their purpose. I hope so! Cutie appeared before them. "You didn't answer the signal, so I decided to come in." It whispered, "Your complexions are not good. I'm afraid your time limit for survival is coming to an end. However, maybe you want to see the records of today's instruments?" Powell felt vaguely the robot's gesture of friendliness at this moment.Perhaps Cutie had some sort of conscience for forcing people out of control of the station.He took the note that was handed him, looking at it absently. Cutie looked very happy, "Of course, it is an honor to serve the Lord. But don't feel bad because I replaced you." Powell grunted, looking mechanically from one sheet of paper to another.Suddenly his dull eyes rested on a thin, wiggling red line across the table on a graph. He watched the curve again and again.Suddenly, convulsively grasping at the chart, keeping his eyes fixed on it, he stood up, and the rest of the papers flew to the ground. "Michael! Michael!" He shook Donovan's shoulder. "It kept the beam steady!" Donovan came to his senses. "What, where, where?" He stared at the chart with wide eyes. Cutie interjected, "What's wrong?" "You kept the beam in focus," Powell stammered. "You know that?" "Focus? What is this?" "The beam is always aimed exactly at the receiving station, with an accuracy of one ten-thousandth of a millisecond!" "Which receiving station are you targeting?" "Earth! Receiving station on Earth!" Powell said gleefully. "You kept the focus!" Cutie turned away from him angrily. "It's no good dealing with you two. Those lies again! I'm just keeping all the pointers in balance—it's the Lord's will." It picked up the scattered papers and went out angrily. As soon as the door closed, Donovan said, "Excellent, I'm convinced!" He turned to Powell: "What do we do now?" Powell was tired, but in a good mood. "No need to do anything. It has proved that it can control this station perfectly. I have never seen an electronic storm be controlled so well." "But it didn't solve anything. Didn't you hear it talking about the Lord? We couldn't..." "Listen to me, Michael! It does the Lord's will by dials and instruments and charts, and that's exactly what we do. In fact, that's why it refuses to obey us. Obedience to orders belongs to the Second Law, And protecting people from harm is the first law. How can it save people, whether it is intentional or not? Of course it is protecting the focus!" "It knows that it can do better than us at this point, so it is by no means unreasonable to insist that it is an advanced creature. Therefore, it should not let us enter the control room. According to the three laws of robotics, this will inevitably occur. result." "Of course, that's not the problem. We can't let it continue to spread this nonsense about the Lord." "why not?" "Because no one has heard of this superstition. How can we trust it and give it the space station if it doesn't believe in the existence of the earth?" "Can it control the station?" "Yes, but..." "Then, whatever it believes in, what it doesn't believe in!" Powell smiled feebly, and fell on the bed with his arms outstretched.He soon fell asleep. Putting on his light suit, Powell said, "It's going to be very simple. You can send the QT robots here one by one. Put them on automatic shut-off switches, which don't open after a week. Let them learn... oh... learn the worship of the Lord from the Speaker himself. Then transport them to other space stations and reanimate them. Only two QTs per station..." Donovan pulled away the glass helmet and sneered, "Stop talking, let's get out of here! The successor is waiting! Besides, when I actually didn't see the earth, before I set foot on the ground, I was really worried, indeed Believe it exists." He continued talking until the door opened.Donovan swore, snapped on his seal helmet, and turned his back on Cutie angrily. The robot approached them softly, and said in a sad voice, "Are you leaving?" Powell nodded rudely: "Someone else will replace us." Cutie sighed, and the sigh sounded like a bundle of taut wires being blown by the wind. "Your official business has been completed, and the time of extinction has come. I have foreseen it, but...forget it, this is the will of the Lord!" Its mild tone stung Powell. "Don't pretend to be merciful! Cutie, we are returning to Earth, not dying." Cutie sighed again. "It's better for you to think that way. Now I see the wisdom of your illusions. I would never try to shake your faith, even if I could." It went out of the room--with a look of pity. Powell babbled a few words and gestured to Donovan.They walked into the airlock with sealed suitcases. The spacecraft carrying the successor has already docked outside.Powell's successor, Franz Müller, greeted him with awkward politeness.Donovan gave him a cold nod and stepped into the cab to take over the driving duties from Sam Evans. Powell delays for a moment, "How is the earth?" To this perfectly ordinary question, Miller gave the usual answer: "It's still spinning." "Very good," Powell said. Miller looked at him. "By the way, the folks at American Robotics have developed a new model—a group robot." "what?" "Large contract already signed, as I said. This model seems just right for an asteroid mine. A droid foreman with six auxiliary droids at his command, like your fingers." "Did it pass the field test?" Powell asked eagerly. "I heard that they are waiting for you." Miller smiled. Powell clenched his fists. "Hell, we need a break!" "Oh, you'll rest, I think, for two weeks." Miller prepared to begin his duties, donning the bulky gloves of his spacesuit.He frowned a pair of thick eyebrows, "How is this new robot doing? Make it work well, otherwise, if I let it get close to the instrument, I will not be human." Powell paused before answering.He looked the haughty Prussian standing before him from head to toe: a firm and recalcitrant head with short hair, his legs standing at attention.Suddenly Powell felt elated. "The robot is perfectly fine," he said slowly, "I don't think you have to deal with the instruments much." He smiled and stepped onto the spaceship.Miller is going to be here for a few weeks...