"Isaac Asimov - Feeling of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

\pard\li85\sl55\slmult0 axes, and railroads had no computers."\par
\pard\li305 "And possibly they did not compute."\par
\pard\li305\sl30\slmult0 "You know better than that. Even the building of a rail-\par
\pard\li95\sl25\slmult0 road or a ziggurat called for some computing, and that must\par
\pard have been without computers as we know them."\fs24\par
\pard\li210\fs18 "Do you suggest they computed in the fashion you demon-\par
\pard\sl15\slmult0 strate?"\par
\pard\li210\sl10\slmult0 "Probably not. After all, this methodwe call it 'graph-\par
\pard\li10\sl15\slmult0 itics,' by the way, from the old European word 'grapho'\par
\pard\sl20\slmult0 meaning 'to write'is developed from the computers them-\par
\pard\li5\sl15\slmult0 selves so it cannot have antedated them. Still, the cave men\par
\pard\li5\sl30\slmult0 must have had \i some\i0 method, eh?"\par
\pard\li220 "Lost arts! If you're going to talk about lost arts"\par
\pard\li220\sl15\slmult0 "No, no. I'm not a lost art enthusiast, though I don't say\par
\pard\li20\sl15\slmult0 there may not be some. After all, man was eating grain be-\par
\pard\li15\sl20\slmult0 fore hydroponics, and if the primitives ate grain, they must\par
\pard\li20\sl10\slmult0 have grown it in soil. What else could they have done?"\par
\pard\li220\sl15\slmult0 "I don't know, but I'll believe in soil-growing when I see\par
\pard\li20\sl60\slmult0 someone grow grain in soil. And I'll believe in making fire\par
\pard\li25 by rubbing two pieces of flint together when I see that, too."\par
\pard\li225\sl15\slmult0 Shuman grew placative. "Well, let's stick to graphitics. It's\par
\pard\li20\sl15\slmult0 just part of the process of etherealization. Transportation by\par
\pard\li30\sl60\slmult0 means of bulky contrivances is giving way to direct mass\par
\pard\li30 transference. Communications devices become less massive\par
\pard\li45\sl20\slmult0 and more efficient constantly. For that matter, compare your\par
\pard\li35\sl10\slmult0 pocket computer with the massive jobs of a thousand years\par
\pard\li45\sl65\slmult0 ago. Why not, then, the last step of doing away with com-\par
\pard\li40 puters altogether? Come, sir. Project Number is a going con-\par
\pard\li45\sl40\slmult0 cern; progress is already headlong. But we want your help.\par
\pard\li40 If patriotism doesn't move you, consider the intellectual ad-\par
\pard\li45\sl35\slmult0 venture involved."\par
\pard\li245 Loesser said sceptically, "What progress? What can you do\par
\pard\li45\sl20\slmult0 beyond multiplication? Can you integrate a transcendental\par
\pard\li35\sl15\slmult0 function?"\par
\pard\li245\sl15\slmult0 "In time, sir. In time. In the last month I have learned\par
\pard\li35\sl35\slmult0 to handle division. I can determine, and correctly, integral\par
\pard\li45 quotients and decimal quotients."\par
\pard\li240\sl10\slmult0 "Decimal quotients? To how many places?"\par
\pard\li250\sl20\slmult0 Programmer Shuman tried to keep his tone casual. "Any\par
\pard\li45\sl15\slmult0 number!"\par
\pard\li250\sl15\slmult0 Loesser's lower jaw dropped. "Without a computer?"\par
"Set me a problem."\par
\pard\li250\sl20\slmult0 "Divide twenty-seven by thirteen. Take it to six places."\par
\pard\li250\sl15\slmult0 Five minutes later, Shuman said, "Two point oh seven six\par
\pard\li45\sl15\slmult0 nine two three."\par
\pard\li245\sl25\slmult0 Loesser checked it. "Well, now, that's amazing. Mulitiplica-\par
\pard\li55\sl10\slmult0 tion didn't impress me too much because it involved in-\par
\pard\li45\sl35\slmult0 tegers after all, and I thought trick manipulation might do\par
\pard it. But decimals"\fs24\par
\pard\li200\fs18 "And that is not all. There is a new development that is,\par