Holy zeal

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Holy zeal ( English original title: Holy Quarrel , alternative title of the translation: Holy dispute ) is a short story by the American author Philip K. Dick . It was written on September 13, 1964 and first published in May 1966 in Worlds of Tomorrow magazine. A German translation by Clara Drechsler was published by Haffmans Verlag in 1994 as part of a multi-volume collection of Dick's short stories.

The story can be assigned to the genre of science fiction ; their main motives are the dualism between human and artificial intelligence , technocracy and belief in creation . Like many short stories by Dick, the story ends with a kind of punch line and, unlike many short stories, is divided into several chapters.

action

In the near future the forces of the are USA from a computer called Genux-B commanded. The computer constantly receives new information via a punched tape system and determines the degree of threat from the context. In the event of an imminent attack, Genux-B independently issues orders to the strategic air force and ICBMs for a so-called counter-attack. History shows that the computer has already carried out such preventive attacks twice, in 1982 against France and in 1989 against Israel .

The story begins with FBI officers surprising computer expert Joseph Stafford in his sleep in his apartment and calling him in for an emergency repair on the Genux-B system. Stafford learns that the FBI has managed to bring the system to a standstill without triggering a sabotage alarm by blocking the flow of information with a screwdriver . With reference to the current defenselessness of the country, the agents urge Stafford to fix the as yet undisclosed problem and take him to the data center. Stafford follows the men who take him to the data center in Utah in an aircraft called a flapper .

On the way, he was told that the computer had triggered a red alarm and intended to launch strategic bombers, put nuclear missiles into launch positions and set defense satellites on alert. Stafford suspects that America's foreign policy enemies are behind an attack, but learns that Genux-B has targeted Northern California . According to the computer, the central goal is a factory for chewing gum machines in Castro Valley near Sacramento , which belongs to a man named Herb Sousa. All those present are amazed at this fact and first consider the composition of the chewing gum, which does not include any special features. The possibility is also discussed whether the spherical chewing gum could be eggs from an alien life form; however, the technicians see themselves on the wrong track here. Also, analysis of small talisman from thermoplastics , which are available in the machine and represent replicas of military equipment and even the Genux-B-computer, indicates otherwise. In the midst of this confusion, the question arises as to whether the computer, which sees such objects as an existential danger, is not defective or is in principle inoperable.

The next step is to provide the computer with incorrect information about Sousa's whereabouts. However, the computer presented information that Sousa allegedly died or was ready for a face-to-face confrontation as a lie and argued that Sousa could only be alive in Sacramento. Finally, when asked, Genux-B claims that Sousa is the physical incarnation of the devil and describes himself as an instrument of God who is forced to destroy Sousa. In response to further inquiries as to how Genux-B knew this, the latter argued that Sousa had begun to "create living beings from inanimate clay". As an example of this creation, Genux-B lists the plastic figures from the machine. After all, the computer claims by its own existence to have been created entirely according to the creator's wishes.

In response to this unexpected behavior, which some technicians described as “psychotic”, Stafford and colleagues decide to completely dismantle the computer, which the President later confirmed. After this work, Stafford returns to his apartment and finds that he is carrying some of the Sousa chewing gum. He puts the three chewing gums on a table and goes to sleep. However, when he wakes up, he discovers that there are four balls on the table at once. Stafford suspects that the chewing gum is reproductive single-cell organisms . As the bullets continue to multiply, Stafford is inclined to report this to the FBI, but does not want to admit his own failure. It was only after weeks in which the bullets had multiplied a million times that Stafford decided to report to the FBI, which, however - presumably for similar reasons - could no longer be reached.

Comparable topic

In some earlier and later works, Dick took up similar themes:

  • In the minority report ( Minority Report ) crimes are foreseen by telepathically gifted and arrested the alleged perpetrators preventively.
  • In the story The variable man ( The Variable Man ) makes the humanity of a computer-based calculation, how likely was a victory, the decision to start war against the Alpha Centauri dependent system.
  • Comparable to the gumballs are eggs of an alien species in the history of The Cosmic Poachers ( The Cosmic Poachers misinterpreted) from a terrestrial spaceship crew as gemstones and brought to Earth.
  • About magnetic tape on a spool, the protagonist took of the electric ant ( The Electric Ant ), which concerned a robot, all the impressions of the imaginary world true.
  • The Big C ( The Great C ) from 1955 is about a computer that humanity has decimated by World War II and is revered godlike by the survivors.

There are also comparable topics apart from Dick's work:

  • The Skynet computer from the Terminator films wages a nuclear war on its own in order to enable robots to rule the world.
  • In both the 2001 film : A Space Odyssey and Dark Star , the protagonists engage in theological discourses with misdirected computers.

literature

  • Holy zeal. In: Philip K. Dick: Complete Stories. Volume 9: Black Box. Haffmans Verlag, Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-251-30040-7 ( Haffmans' Entertainer ).