The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem

Author:Stanislaw Lem
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Published: 2011-11-07T18:07:26+00:00

It soon became evident that Dr. Lauda's assumptions were shared by most of his colleagues: he was merely the first to express them in such a determined manner. The only differences of opinion concerned the question whether the cloud could be considered to have consciousness or not. The cyberneticists were inclined to view the cloud as a thinking system, capable of strategic planning. Lauda was subjected to vigorous attacks. Horpach realized that the basis for their violent arguments was not so much their objections to Lauda's explanations as the fact that he had discussed them first with the commander rather than with his colleagues. Despite their good relations with the rest of the crew, the scientists formed a "state within a state" on board ship and followed a definite unwritten code of behavior.

Kronotos, the senior cyberneticist, asked Lauda how the cloud could have learned to attack men if it were devoid of intellect.

"Quite simple," answered the biologist. "It's done nothing else for millions of years. I'm referring to their fight against the original denizens of Regis III, animals with a central nervous system. The cloud learned to attack them the same way a terrestrial insect will attack its victim, and with the same precision with which a wasp injects its poison into the nerve fibers of a cricket or a grasshopper. No intelligence is needed for that, just instinct."

"But where did they learn to attack planes? Surely they've never met up with aircraft before."

"How can you be sure of that? The cloud fought on two fronts, as I've already pointed out, my dear colleague. Against the organic inhabitants of Regis III, and against the inorganic kindthe automatons, the robots. These robots must necessarily have resorted to all kinds of defensive and offensive means."

"But if there were no flying robots among them"

"I see the point Dr. Lauda wants to make here," remarked Saurahan, the assistant cyberneticist. These giant robots, macro-automatons, must have established some means of communication with each other in order to work together. They could be most efficiently destroyed through isolation, and that could be best accomplished by blocking their communication system"

"Whether the cloud's behavior is triggered by conscious mental activity or not is completely immaterial at this point," Kronotos countered. "Our present task is not to find a single hypothesis that will answer all our problems, but rather one that will guarantee us maximum possible security in the course of our stay on this planet. So it would be wiser for us to assume that the cloud does have a certain degree of intelligence. We'll probably exercise greater caution that way. If, on the other hand, we go along with Dr. Lauda's belief that the cloud does not possess any reasoning power, and if he turns out to be in error, we may have to pay a terribly high price for that error. I am speaking now not as a theorist but as a tactician."

"Which of us are you setting up camp againstmyself or the cloud?" replied Lauda calmly.

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