I, Robot Audiobook - Ch. 9 - The Evitable Conflict - By Isaac Asimov, Read by Garrick Hagon скачать в хорошем качестве

I, Robot Audiobook - Ch. 9 - The Evitable Conflict - By Isaac Asimov, Read by Garrick Hagon

The Inevitable Conflict Audiobook - Ch. 9 - I, Robot - By Isaac Asimov, Read by Garrick Hagon - In 2052 Susan Calvin visits Stephen Byerley, now the "World Co-ordinator," or head of global government. He is concerned about some irregularities occurring in various industrial and public-works projects—irregularities that could be "nothing at all" or "the end of humanity." Intrigued, Calvin asks for details, and Byerley delivers a monologue about the conflict that has invariably characterized human history. War is now unknown, he says, because the Machines—intelligent supercomputers—are trusted to manage the global economy. Were the Machines to fail, however, it could plunge humanity into chaos. Byerley reviews his conversations with the Co-ordinators of the four global Regions. In the populous Eastern Region, there is an unemployment problem at a large hydroponics facility, but the Co-ordinator tells Byerley that this is transient and expected. What is surprising is that the operator of an iodine production plant has been forced out of business by competition, without any advance warning by the Machine. In the growing Tropic Region, Byerley hears a similar story: an apparently major problem with a canal project is traced back to an individual miscalculation on the part of an engineer. The anomaly is, again, that the Machine allowed a human to miscalculate in this way. The same scenario plays out in the European Region, where a mercury mine is under producing and an inconsistency between human and Machine calculations is suspected. Back home in the Northern region, Byerley learns that a Machine simply will not accept false data or make calculations on the basis of facts it knows to be untrue. Byerley suggests that if the Machines are not making errors, or receiving false data somehow, there must be humans who are ignoring the Machines' recommendations. He speculates that parties in one region or another are purposely trying to create instability to disrupting the world government and claim power for themselves. Indeed, he says, it is well known that there is an antirobot "Society for Humanity," whose members include several prominent industrialists. The simple answer would be to outlaw the society. Calvin counters that this will not work. All appearances to the contrary, the Machine cannot be disobeyed, even if the Society for Humanity remains active. Sensing Byerley's confusion, she elaborates: the Machines have built rebellion into their calculations. The iodine plant operator, the canal engineer, and the mercury mine owners are being harmlessly sidelined by the Machines. As he realizes the magnitude of what Calvin is saying, Byerley reflects with horror: "Mankind has lost its own say in its future." "It never had any," retorts Calvin, but under the Machines' rule, global conflict is finally "evitable." Calvin dies at the age of 82.