"Harry Harrison & Marvin Minsky - The Turing Option" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

light upon the Santa Rosa Mountains that stretched along the northern horizon. The
evening shadows of the ocotillo and cactus painted long lines on the gray sands of the
desert before him. Normally the stark beauty of this soothed and relaxed him; not
today. The gentle ping of the intercom cut through his thoughts.
"What is it?" he said. The machine recognized his voice and turned itself on. His
secretary spoke.
"Dr. McCrory is here and would like to speak with you."
J. J. Beckworth hesitated, knowing what Bill McCrory wanted, and was tempted to
keep him waiting. No, better to put him in the picture.
"Send him in."
The door hummed and McCrory entered, strode the length of the big room,
soundlessly, his footsteps muffled by the deep-pile, pure wool Youghal carpet. He
was a wiry, angular man, looking thin as a rail beside the stocky, solid form of the
Chairman. He did not wear a jacket and his tie was loose around his neck; there was a
good deal of informality at the upper levels of Megalobe. But he was wearing a vest,
the pockets filled with the pens and pencils so essential for any engineer.
"Sorry to bother you, J.J." He twisted his fingers together nervously, not wanting to
reprimand the Chairman of the company. "But the demonstration is ready."
"I know, Bill, and I'm sorry to keep you waiting. But something has come up and I
can't get away for the moment."
"Any delay will cause difficulties with security."
"Of which I am well aware." J. J. Beckworth let none of his irritation show; he
never did with those below him in the corporate pecking order. Perhaps McCrory did
not realize that the Chairman had personally supervised the design and construction
of all the security arrangements of this establishment. He smoothed his silk Sulka tie
for a moment, his cold silence a reprimand in itself. "But we will just have to wait.
There has been a sudden and exceedingly large spurt of buying on the New York
exchange. Just before it closed."
"Our stock, sir?"
"Ours. Tokyo is still open, they have twenty-four-hour trading now, and the same
thing seems to be happening there. It makes no financial sense at all. Five of the
largest and most powerful electronic corporations in this country founded this
company. They control Megalobe absolutely. By law a certain amount of stock must
be traded, but there can be no possibility of a takeover bid."
"Then what could be happening?"
"I wish I knew. Reports from our brokers will be coming in soon. We can get down
to your lab then. What is it that you want me to see?"
Bill McCrory smiled nervously. "I think we had better let Brian explain it to you.
He says it is the important breakthrough he has been waiting for. I'm afraid that I don't
understand what it is myself. A lot of this artificial intelligence stuff is beyond me.
Communications is my field."
J. J. Beckworth nodded understandingly. Many things were happening now in this
research center that had not been allowed for in the original plan. Megalobe had origi-
nally been founded for a single purpose; to catch up and hopefully pass the Japanese
with HDTV research. High-definition television, which started with a wider screen
and well over a thousand scan lines. The United States had almost missed the boat on
this one. Only the belated recognition of foreign dominance in the worldwide televi-
sion market had brought the Megalobe founding corporations and the Pentagon
togetherтАФbut only after the Attorney General had looked the other way while
Congress had changed the antitrust laws to make possible this new kind of industrial