Free The Jacobs Project: In Search of Pinocchio (SYMBIOSIS) by Samuel King Page B

"Speaking of Hal… he's unhappy."
    " It's always unhappy. What is it now?"
    " He wants mobility, says being tethered to one spot is stifling and cruel."
    " Cruel! Is that thing ever going to be satisfied?"
    Dempsey hesitated. Schultz 's attitude toward Hal had always troubled him. "Well, he does have a point."
    " No it doesn't. Hal gets to talk to us, to contemplate the universe, to do anything it damn well pleases with its brain. But it does not get to tell us what we need to do. We've got our own agenda, and we'll work it on our timeline. Not Hal's."
    Shit. We 're going to have the argument again. "But Dr. Schultz, you created him to be just like us. Can't you even consider the fact that he may want the same things as us?"
    " No. There's no need. I have no doubt Hal can think. I have no doubt that it's a good deal smarter than I am. And I sure as hell have no doubt that it's no damn computer. Ergo, I have no doubt that it is something special. But that's where it stops. Is it an existentialist? Does it harbor grudges or love its mother? Hell, I don't know. Those are questions for shrinks and philosophers. My specialty was neural networks, and all I know is we did some damn fine work, and Hal is the result. The rest of that crap… I have no idea, and moreover, I don't care."
    " Well, why not err on the side of caution. Just in case he's more than you think."
    " In your typical arrogance, Dempsey, you've assumed that I don't know what we've created. I know exactly what Hal is and how it does what it does. You're just determined to see it as a person, and I'm not, that's all. It's a lump of protoplasm hooked up to some very sophisticated electronics. Period."
    " But he could be so much more."
    Schultz chuckled. "I've got an old saying for you."
    " Yes?"
    " You can put a sailor suit on a monkey, but that doesn't make him an admiral. You catch my point, son?"
    Deflated, Dempsey sighed and answered, "Yes, Sir."
    " Good, now back to business. Here's how I see it. We gave it an AV interface, an incredible achievement, by the way, and then, once it could see and hear, it just had to speak. Well the AV thing was clearly related to our work, the speech thing, less so but still justifiable. This? No way. This is simple robotics. If they're interested, let them build it a platform—as part of our project of course."
    " They'll never agree to that."
    " Tough. Hal stays put, then."
    " Maybe not."
    " Huh?"
    " We were thinking about something less mechanical."
    " What do you mean less mechanical?"
    " Well, we've been kicking around the idea of hooking him up to a holo system."
    " Bullshit!"
    " No, really. It's a pretty elegant solution actually—no moving parts. Most of it is just double "E" stuff, connecting his AV and Mic interfaces to the holo system I/O. The only thing of any consequence is designing a motor control interface to drive the holo image. We'll need the cybernetics people for that. It's perfect really. H e gets to move around while his array and all the other hardware stays put."
    " Ooh, I like the sound of that," Schultz replied, laughing. "The robotics people will shit a brick. Our project walking around with ease, while their dumb clunkers keel over every other time they make a turn."
    Dempsey laughed politely. Schultz 's hatred of the Robotics Department was legendary, rumored to have been the result of a nasty break-up with that department's chairwoman. Still, it all seemed so unprofessional.
    " What a great idea, Dempsey."
    " I wish I could claim it, but I'm afraid, like most great ideas, it belongs to one of the grad students."
    " But of course it does. Some things never change. Well, pat the kid on the head, give him an attaboy—"
    " Her…"
    " Right. Give her an attagirl then get to work on this. I want to hear more next week."
    " Will do."
    " Anything else?"
    " No, that pretty much covers it."
    " Good," Schultz said. "I'll see you next week then."
    " Okay." He rose to leave.
    " Uhhh, Dempsey."
    " Yes?"
    "