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"I operate by a code that makes me responsible for what I do, makes me definitely, directly, genuinely responsible. I am precisely the kind of person I made myself out to be."
- Harlan Ellison
 |
| Mechanical Judge | ||
| A device that makes legal decisions. |
| "What do you mean by a Mechanical Judge?" demanded Harry; while the iron worker took his right hand and made him hold a knob connecting with and electric wire.
 (From Mechanical Judge from 'The Lord of Tranerica') "A Mechanical Judge," the Cipher declared, "represents the height of judicial advance. Now that all decisions are machine-made, we can be sure they will be uniform quality. We can also be sure they will be swift, efficient, and positive. Besides, the Mechanical Judge cannot be bribed." "No, but they say he can be fixed," contributed the Lightning Bolt. "...The principle is really very simple. Why, didn't they have lie detectors long ago, so far back, I believe, as the twentieth century? We're merely enlarged upon the same idea. Everything that happens to a man, you see, leaves its reaction in his nervous system, and in his blood stream. Each incident, each thought arouses a faint electric current — very weak, it is true; yet a sufficiently powerful machine, with strong amplifiers, can register it and interpret it by its wave-length. So, if a man has treasonous ideas — " |
| Technovelgy from The Lord of Tranerica,
by Stanton A. Coblentz. Published by Dynamic Science Stories in 1939 Additional resources -
|
Quickly, a decision was reached:
"Have no fear," returned the Cipher, mournfully. "They say his record of convictions is nearly one hundred per cent."
The next instant there came a sudden snapping sound from inside the largest machine, and a red hand shot up, along with some crimson notations.
"Prisoner Number 1 ," read an arrow pointing in the Cipher's direction, "ZX i." . . . "Prisoner Number 2," said an arrow aimed at the Lightning Bolt, "ZX 2." . . . "Prisoner Number 3," announced an arrow that indicated Harry, "ZX 3."
"That's the decision, of course," stated the Cipher, extricating himself from the rubber tube and wire. "There's a table at the end of the room to interpret the code."
AU three hastily made their way across the room, and could hardly keep from groaning as they read: "ZX 1, Guilty of treason in the third degree. Confinement for fifty years. . . . ZX 2. Guilt of treason in the second degree — Confinement for life. . . . ZX 3. Guilty of treason in the first degree. Execution in thirty days.
Compare to the psychoprobe from Satellite Five (1938) by Arthur K. Barnes, the
quizzer from Agent of Vega (1949) by James Schmitz, the
psychic probe from Foundation and Empire (1952) by Isaac Asimov, the
truth meter from The Star Beast (1954) by Robert Heinlein, the
cephaloscope from The Houses of Iszm (1954) by Jack Vance, the
veridicator from Little Fuzzy (1962) by H. Beam Piper.
"Sure the Mechanical Judge never makes mistakes?" Harry went on, a little nervously. "I'd hate to see the wrong decision."
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'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''
'I opened the oblong box, where lay the automatons side by side...'
'They tied the memory to the bloodline and that was their record!'
