David Auberson stood, feeling very much ill-at-ease and wondering how he had ended up in this position. Dome had very carefully prepared the Board of Directors for him. Twenty-six pairs of eyes were focused on him, and with the exception of only two, all of them would be weighing his words against Dome’s admonition to consider the amount of money involved.
“The G.O.D Proposal,” he said, and his voice almost cracked. He took a sip of water. “The proposal is for a Graphic Omniscient Device. Now let me explain first what that means.
“Computers operate models of problems, not the problems themselves. Computers are limited to the size problem they can solve by the size of the model they can handle. The size of the model, unfortunately, is limited by the size program that we, the programmers, can construct. There is a point, a limit, beyond which a program becomes so complex that no one individual human being can see it all. There is a point beyond which no team can see it all. There is a point — we haven’t reached it yet, but it’s there — beyond which no combination of human beings and computers can cope. As long as a human being is involved, we are limited to the size model a human being can cope with.
“Now, the G.O.D. will be theoretically capable of handling models of (practically speaking) infinite size. There would be no point in building it, though, unless we could program it. Right now, today, our best computers are already working on the maximum size problems that we can feed into them, the maximum size that human beings can construct. And it would seem that any construction of a larger, more massive complex of machinery would be redundant. Without the larger programs, we would simply be invoking the law of diminishing returns. We would be building a machine with more capability than we could use.
“However, we have HARLIE, who was designed and built to be a self-programming, problem-solving device. HARLIE is functioning well within his projected norms, but we have found that he is limited to solving problems only as big as the computers he is tapped into can handle. In other words, HARLIE could solve bigger problems if he was backed up by bigger machines. The bigger machine he needs is the G.O.D. HARLIE can program it. HARLIE can build models of (practically speaking) infinite size. He will use the G.O.D. to help him build those models.
“It’s a question of realizing HARLIE’s potential by giving him the proper tools. Our present-day hardware can’t even begin to handle the data HARLIE wants to work with. Right now, he’s plugged into twenty or so of our experimental MARK XX’s. It still isn’t enough.
Compared to what the G.O.D. will be, these are desk calculators. Gentlemen, we are talking about a machine that will be as much a step forward in computer technology as the 747 jumbo jet was a step forward over the prop-driven plane. Sure, it took a massive investment on the part of the airlines — but have any of you looked at airline profits lately? The airlines that took that risk a few years ago are profiting handsomely today. Almost every plane that left the ground this summer was loaded to capacity — but a capacity of three or four hundred is a hell of a lot more profitable than a capacity of ninety.
“Of course, we must be concerned about the cost. Because we are only one company, we must finance this ourselves — but that may also turn out to be our greatest asset. We are the only company that can build this machine. And we are the only company that can program it once it is built. No other computer manufacturer can produce judgment circuits without our permission; it’s that simple. And both HARLIE and the G.O.D. depend on judgment circuitry for most of their higher-order functions. No digital computer can duplicate them.
“What we have here is the next step, perhaps the ultimate step, in computer technology. And we are the only company that can take this step. If we don’t, no one will. At least, not for many years. If we do, we will have the field to ourselves.
“Now, you’ve all had a chance to see the specifications and the schematics, but on the off chance that you haven’t had the time to give them the full study they deserve—” There was an appreciative chuckle at this; most of the Directors were aware of the amount of material HARLIE had printed out. “—I’m going to turn this meeting over to Don Handley, our design engineer and staff genius. He honestly thinks he understands this proposal and is going to try to explain to you exactly how the machine will work. Later, I’ll discuss the nature of the problems it will handle. Don?”
Handley stood up, and Auberson relinquished the floor gratefully. Handley coughed modestly into his hand. “Well, now, I don’t rightly claim to understand the proposal — it’s just that HARLIE keeps asking me to explain it to him.” Easy laughter at this. Handley went on, “But I’m looking forward to building this machine, because after we do, HARLIE won’t have to bother me any more. He can ask the G.O.D. how it works — and it’ll tell him. So I’m in favor of this because it’ll make my job easier.”
He let himself become more serious. “HARLIE and the G.O.D. will be linked up completely. You won’t be able to talk to one without the other being a part of the conversation. You might think of them as being a symbiotic pair. Like a human programmer and a desktop terminal — and, like the human programmer and the desktop terminal, the efficiency of the relationship will be determined by the interface between them. That’s why they’ll be wired totally into each other, making them, for all practical purposes, one machine.
“Now, let’s get into this in some detail — and if there’s anything you have any questions about, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll be discussing some pretty heavy schematics here, and I want you all to understand what we’re talking about. Copies of the specifications have been made available, of course, but we’re here to clarify anything you might not understand.”
Listening, Auberson suppressed a slight smile. Don and he had been studying those schematics since the day they had been printed out and they still didn’t understand them fully. Oh, they could talk about the principles involved, but if anyone were to ask anything really pertinent, they planned to refer him to HARLIE. In fact, that was the main reason why they had asked to have the computer console installed, for quick display of data to impress the Directors. Already, the technician there was querying HARLIE at Handley’s direction. An overhead screen had been placed to show the computer’s answers; equations and schematics were flashing on it.
Two of the Board members looked bored.
The day dragged on.
They recessed for lunch, and then Handley came back and spoke some more. He explained how HARLIE’s schematic had been derived from that of the human brain, and how his judgment units were equivalent to individual lobes. He pointed out the nature of the G.O.D.’s so-called “infinity circuits,” which allowed information to be holographically stored, and allowed circuits to handle several different functions at the same time. He spoke about the “infinite capacity” memory banks and the complex sorting and correlating circuitry necessary to keeping all this data straight. He spoke all day.
When they reconvened on Wednesday, he explained the supporting equipment that would be necessary. He spoke of banks and banks of consoles, because the G.O.D. would be able to handle hundreds, perhaps thousands of conversations at once. He envisaged a public computer office, whereby any individual could walk in off the street, sit down and converse with the machine on any subject whatsoever, whether he was writing a thesis, building an invention, or just lonely and in search of a little helpful guidance and analysis. It would be a service, said Handley, a public utility: The computer could offer financial planning, credit advice, ratings on competitive products, menu plans for dieters; it could even compute the odds on tomorrow’s races and program the most optimal bets a player might make. A person using the service would be limited only by his own imagination. If he wanted to play chess, the machine would do that too — and play only as good a game as the individual could cope with, adjusting its efficiency to that of the player. The G.O.D. would have infinite growth potential. Because HARLIE would be using it to program itself, the size of the models it could handle would grow with it. He spoke of the capabilities of the machine all of Wednesday and finished late in the afternoon.