银河系漫游指南国语 经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第25章5

经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第25章5  

"Alright!" bawled Vroomfondel banging on an nearby desk. "I am Vroomfondel
and that is not a demand
that is a solid fact! What we demand is solid facts!"
"No we don't!" exclaimed Majikthise in irritation. "That is precisely what we don't demand!"
Scarcely pausing for breath
Vroomfondel shouted
"We don't demand solid facts! What we demand is a total absence of solid facts. I demand that I may or may not be Vroomfondel!"
"But who the devil are you?" exclaimed an outraged Fook.
"We
" said Majikthise
"are Philosophers."
"Though we may not be
" said Vroomfondel waving a warning finger at the programmers."Yes we are
" insisted Majikthise. "We are quite definitely here as representatives of the Amalgamated Union of Philosophers
Sages
Luminaries and Other Thinking Persons
and we want this machine off
and we want it off now!"
"What's the problem?" said Lunkwill.
"I'll tell you what the problem is mate
" said Majikthise
"demarcation
that's the problem!"
"We demand
" yelled Vroomfondel
"that demarcation may or may not be the problem!"
"You just let the machines get on with the adding up
" warned Majikthise
"and we'll take care of the eternal verities thank you very much. You want to check your legal position you do mate. Under law the Quest for Ultimate Truth is quite clearly the inalienable prerogative of your working thinkers. Any bloody machine goes and actually finds it and we're straight out of a job aren't we? I mean what's the use of our sitting up half the night arguing that there may or may not be a God if this machine only goes and gives us his bleeding phone number the next morning?"
"That's right!" shouted Vroomfondel
"we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"
Suddenly a stentorian voice boomed across the room.
"Might I make an observation at this point?" inquired Deep Thought.
"We'll go on strike!" yelled Vroomfondel.
"That's right!" agreed Majikthise. "You'll have a national Philosopher's strike on your hands!"
The hum level in the room suddenly increased as several ancillary bass driver units
mounted in sedately carved and varnished cabi speakers around the room
cut in to give Deep Thought's voice a little more power.
"All I wanted to say
" bellowed the puter
"is that my circuits are now irrevocably mitted to calculating the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life
the Universe
and Everything -" he paused and satisfied himself that he now had everyone's attention
before continuing more quietly
"but the programme will take me a little while to run."
Fook glanced impatiently at his watch.
"How long?" he said.