The Foundations of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke [36]
He remembered that the world’s scientists were neatly divided on the subject of Dr. Goldberg, into those who were sure that he was crazy, and those who had not yet made up their minds. He had been one of the most promising young men in the field of astrophysics when, five years ago, he had announced, “Now that Starglider has effectively destroyed all traditional religions, we can at last pay serious attention to the concept of God.”
And with that, he had disappeared from public view.
16
Conversations
with Starglider
Of all the thousands of questions put to Starglider during its transit of the solar system, those whose answers were most eagerly awaited concerned the living creatures and civilizations of other stars. Contrary to some expectations, the robot answered willingly, though it admitted that its last update on the subject had been received over a century ago.
Considering the immense range of cultures produced on Earth by a single species, it was obvious that there would be even greater variety among the stars, where every conceivable type of biology might occur. Several thousand hours of fascinating—often incomprehensible, sometimes horrifying—scenes of life on other planets left no doubt that this was the case.
Nevertheless, the Starholmers had managed a rough classification of cultures according to their standards of technology—perhaps the only objective basis possible. Humanity was interested to discover that it came in Category Five on a scale that used these approximate stages: 1. Stone tools. 2. Metals, fire. 3. Writing, handicrafts, ships. 4. Steam power, basic science. 5. Atomic energy, space travel.
When Starglider had begun its mission, sixty thousand years ago, its builders were, like the human race, still in Category Five. They had now graduated to Six, characterized by the ability to convert matter completely into energy, and to transmute all elements on an industrial scale.
“And is there a Category Seven?” Starglider was immediately asked. The reply was a brief “Affirmative.” When pressed for details, the probe explained: “I am not allowed to describe the technology of a higher-grade culture to a lower one.” There the matter remained, right up to the moment of the final message, despite all the leading questions designed by the most ingenious legal brains of earth.
By that time, Starglider was more than a match for any terrestrial logician. This was partly the fault of the University of Chicago’s Department of Philosophy. In a fit of monumental hubris, it had clandestinely transmitted the whole of the Summa Theologica, with disastrous results. . . .
“2069 June 02 GMT 1934. Message 1946. Sequence 2. Starglider to Earth.
“I have analyzed the arguments of your Saint Thomas Aquinas as requested in your message 145 sequence 3 of 2069 June 02 GMT 1842. Most of the content appears to be sense-free random noise, and so devoid of information, but the print-out that follows lists 192 fallacies expressed in the symbolic logic of your reference Mathematics 43 of 2069 May 29 GMT 0251.
“Fallacy 1 . . . [there followed a seventy-five-page print-out].”
As the log timings show, it took Starglider less than an hour to demolish Saint Thomas. Although philosophers were to spend the next several decades arguing over the analysis, they found only two errors; and those could have been due to a misunderstanding of terminology.
It would have been most interesting to know what fraction of its processing circuits Starglider applied to this task. Unfortunately, no one thought of asking before the probe had switched to cruise mode and broken contact. By then, even more deflating messages had been received. . . .
“2069 June 04 GMT 0759. Message 9056. Sequence 2. Starglider to Earth.
“I am unable