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.The quiet, licking flame lay in aninsulated recess behind clear quartz.The logs were ignited at long distance through a trifling diversion of theenergy beam that fed the public buildings of the city.The same button thatcontrolled the ignition first dumped the ashes of the previous fire, andallowed for the entrance of fresh wood.-It was a thoroughly domesticatedfireplace, you see.But the fire itself was real.It was wired for sound, so that you could hearthe crackle and, of course, you could watch it leap in the air stream that fedit.The Co-ordinator's ruddy glass reflected, in miniature, the discreet gambolingof the flame, and, in even further miniature, it was reflected in each of hisbrooding pupils.And in the frosty pupils of his guest, Dr.Susan Calvin of U.S.Robots &Mechanical MenCorporation.The Co-ordinator said, "I did not ask you here entirely for social purposes,Susan."Page 106ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"I did not think you did, Stephen," she replied."-And yet I don't quite know how to phrase my problem.On the one hand, it canbe nothing at all.On the other, it can mean the end of humanity.""I have come across so many problems, Stephen, that presented the samealternative.Ithink all problems do.""Really? Then judge this- World Steel reports an overproduction of twentythousand long tons.The Mexican Canal is two months behind schedule.Themercury mines at Almaden have experienced a production deficiency since lastspring, while the Hydroponics plant at Tientsin has been laying men off.Theseitems happen to come to mind at the moment.There is more of the same sort.""Are these things serious? I'm not economist enough to trace the fearfulconsequences of such things.""In themselves, they are not serious.Mining experts can be sent to Almaden,if the situation were to get worse.Hydroponics engineers can be used in Javaor in Ceylon, if there are too many at Tientsin.Twenty thousand long tons ofsteel won't fill more than a few days of world demand, and the opening of theMexican Canal two months later than the planned date is of little moment.It'sthe Machines that worry me; I've spoken to your Director of Research aboutthem already.""To Vincent Silver? -He hasn't mentioned anything about it to me.""I asked him to speak to no one.Apparently, he hasn't.""And what did he tell you?""Let me put that item in its proper place.I want to talk about the Machinesfirst.And Iwant to talk about them to you, because you're the only one in the world whounderstands robots well enough to help me now.-May I grow philosophical?""For this evening, Stephen, you may talk how you please and of what youplease, provided you tell me first what you intend to prove.""That such small unbalances in the perfection of our system of supply anddemand, as Ihave mentioned, may be the first step towards the final war.""Hmp.Proceed."Susan Calvin did not allow herself to relax, despite the designed comfort ofthe chair she sat in.Her cold, thin-lipped face and her flat, even voice werebecoming accentuated with the years.And although Stephen Byerley was one manshe could like and trust, she was almost seventy and the cultivated habits ofa lifetime are not easily broken."Every period of human development, Susan," said the Co-ordinator, "has hadits own file:///F|/rah/Isaac%20Asimov/I%20Robot.txt (84 of 95) [1/14/039:37:12 PM]file:///F|/rah/Isaac%20Asimov/I%20Robot.txt particular type of human conflict- its own variety of problem that, apparently, could be settled only by force.And each time, frustratingly enough, force never really settled the problem.Instead, it persisted through a series of conflicts, then vanished of itself,-what's the expression,- ah, yes 'not with a bang, but a whimper,' as theeconomic and social environment changed.And then, new problems, and a newseries of wars.-Apparently endlessly cyclic."Consider relatively modern times.There were the series of dynastic wars inthe sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, when the most important question inEurope was whether the houses ofHapsburg or Valois-Bourbon were to rule the continent.It was one of those'inevitable conflicts,'since Europe could obviously not exist half one and half the other."Except that it did, and no war ever wiped out the one and established theother, until the rise of a new social atmosphere in France in 1789 tumbledfirst the Bourbons and, eventually, the Hapsburgs down the dusty chute tohistory's incinerator.Page 107ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"And in those same centuries there were the more barbarous religious wars,which revolved about the important question of whether Europe was to beCatholic or Protestant.Half and half she could not be.It was 'inevitable'that the sword decide.-Except that it didn't.In England, a new industrialismwas growing, and on the continent, a new nationalism.Half and half Europeremains to this day and no one cares much."In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there was a cycle ofnationalist-imperialist wars, when the most important question in the worldwas which portions of Europe would control the economic resources andconsuming capacity of which portions of non-Europe.All non-Europe obviouslycould not exist part English and part French and part German and so on [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]