"Hogan, James P - The Genesis Machine p174-259" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hogan James P)

УLong speeches are not my line,Ф Clifford began. His manner was unusually blunt and forthright. УThe reason IТm standing here today is essentially to protest
Чto protest at a society that perpetuates a system of values that are becoming insane. Throughout history manТs greatest enemiesЧfrom which practically all our other problems followЧhave been two: ignorance and superstition. The most powerful weapon that man has developed to combat these enemies is scienceЧ the acquisition and harnessing of knowledge. And yet with every day that goes by, we see more and more science being used not to solve the problems of mankind but to aggravate them. Science is being progressively subordinated to the service of our lowest instincts.Ф
He paused and looked around the room, half-. expecting to be interrupted. But although a few aghast stares were in evidence, everybody seemed too taken aback to voice any comment, so he continued. УI am
a scientist. I live in a world that is being torn apart by hatred and mistrust that IТve had no part in making, and the reasons for them donТt interest me. The situation is the making of people I donТt know but who claim to act in my name. Those same people now presume the right to expect me to give up my own life in order to meet obligations that they feel I owe them. Just to make my position clear, IТve never acknowledged any such obligations.Ф
At the table, in front of where Clifford was standing, Morelli was massaging palms that were becoming moist. Next to him, Peter Hughes flinched and swallowed hard. A few sharp intakes of breath from around the room greeted CliffordТs opening remarks. The gathering was not accustomed to being formally addressed so bluntly, and yet there was something about CliffordТs compelling calm and poiseЧan assuredness of purpose that stemmed from somewhere deep inside himЧthat made them bite their tongues and hear him out. They sensed that the buildup was leading to something big.
After a pause that had its desired effect, Clifford continued. УDuring the scientific Renaissance in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, men found out for the first time how to distinguish fact from fancy, truth from falsity, and reality from dreams. From genuine knowledge came inventiveness . . . industry
intellectual freedom . . . affluence. Europe was unique among civilizations. This country was founded on that same tradition and our society was to be based on those same principles.Ф He paused again and made no attempt to hide the accusing light in his eyes as he took in the faces before him.
Morelli hissed out of the corner of his mouth at Aub. УWhatТs he trying to doЧget us all deported?Ф
УHe knows what heТs doing . . . I think,Ф Aub muttered.
Clifford carried on, refusing to be distracted. УBut the tradition has not been followed. The promise of the Renaissance has not been kept. The same ignorance and prejudices that were there before are still with us today, but disguised; they still have the same power to inspire fear and suspicion in menТs minds. First it was religious terror; today itТs political terror. NothingТs changed. The knowledge that was gained and which should have become the birthright of all men has been perverted to more sinister ends, and the rest of the world has not been permitted to follow the path that Europe laid.Ф
Nobody spoke while Clifford paused to drink from the water glass on the table in front of him. Foreshaw was regarding him through narrowed eyes, but had apparently elected to defer any verdict until he knew what this extraordinary address was leading up to. Clifford set the glass down and faced them once more.
УThe lesson of history is that what you donТt give, somebody will sooner or later take. Never mind the morality of itЧthose are the facts. The lesson is about to be repeated. The world is again all set to match brute force with brute force in an attempt to solve a problem that canТt be solved that way. Only wisdom and understanding can solve it.
УI appreciate that nobody in this room made things turn out that way; neither did the government you represent. YouТve inherited the results of centuries of mismanagement, and you canТt go back in time and change whatТs been done. Now itТs too late to worry about how it might have been different anyway. WeТre stuck with it.
УI am convinced that as things are, mankind has run itself into a blind alley. The world is paralyzed by
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a military-technological deadlock that has existed on and off for over a hundred years. History has shown the futility of hoping that this deadlock will ever be dissolved by rational and civilized means, but while it continues to exist, there can be no meaningful progress for the world.Ф
Clifford began pacing himself, getting ready to make his final point. УIn other words itТs too late now to avoid the deadlock, because itТs happened, and itТs painfully obvious that itТs not going to go away. Even World War III wonТt solve anything. All thatТll happen is that each side will wear the other to a standstill just as in 19 14Ч1918, and within fifty years the same situation will emerge all over again.Ф
Clifford took a long pause to let his words sink in, and then drew a deep breath.
УThe only alternative then is that this deadlock must be smashedЧsmashed totally, finally, irrevocably and for all time! ThatТs what I am here to offer.Ф

A murmur of surprise ran around the room. Puzzled but intrigued frowns spread across their faces.
УUp until now, the very fact that the deadlock has persisted has ruled out any such alternative. But today I can offer you a weapon more potent than anything previously dreamed possibleЧa weapon that will pale your missiles and your hydrogen bombs into insignificance and enable this deadlock to be ended once and for all.Ф
He paused to allow his words time to take effect, and then resumed:
УMake no mistake, I am not doing this for any reasons of loyalty, duty, ideology, or creed, or for any other such delusions. I am doing it because it is the only way left to restore science to a position of freedom and dignity, and to allow the human race a chance to
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cast off finally the yoke that is driving it toward spiritual destruction. It seems to me ironically that the cure for mass insanity should be the ult insanity.
УGentlemen, you have repeatedly reaffirmed obligations to counter the threat to the Western that is posed by the alliance of nations and pledged to destroy it. By powers vested in you have sought to compel my involvement in this. wellЧso be it. I will place at your disposal the i of eliminating that threat permanently. This tin will finish it. If I am to be involved, it will be U nothing.Ф He looked around the audience and I let his eyes come to rest on Foreshaw. УThat deal. Do you want me to go on?Ф
Foreshaw returned the look and drummed hi gers on the table for a long time before replying.
УI think you have to, Dr. Clifford,Ф he said q at last.
УThis had better be good,Ф breathed a glow ruddy-faced Air Force general seated three
farther along to his right.
Clifford stepped forward and drew from a f lying on the table, a set of glossy, color computer i each measuring about a foot square. He held tli one up so that everybody could see the pattern o orange, from which a series of fuzzy, irregularly rectangles protruded upward against a backgrou black.
УThe New York City skyline,Ф he informed simply. He handed the plate to Aub and indicate it was to be passed around the table. It was fol by a whole series of familiar landmarks, geogi features and other oddments whose names h nounced one by one before passing them on. included the Rock of Gibraltar. Table Mount~
cross section of the Dardanelles Strait, city profiles of London, Paris, Peking, Bombay, and Sydney; a picture of the eighty-mile-thick slab of oceanic crust of EarthТs Pacific Plate plunging at the rate of seven centimeters per year down into the mantle beneath the Mariana Islands; a large iceberg in the Antarctic Ocean and a blob that represented the Americano-Russian Cosmos V space station, two thousand miles up.
Excitement and awe began to mount.
УEvery one of those images was obtained at Sudbury, using the new Mark II system,Ф Clifford stated. УAnd we should be able to improve on these examples. Once the correct coordinates have been computed, they can be stored and recalled instantly at any time. So much for target identification and fire control. Now for the weapon itself.Ф
Clifford scanned the faces assembled before him, then continued. УYou may remember that the principles by which these pictures are formed involve a new kind of wave that is generated inside any piece of matter and which propagates instantly throughout ordinary space. In recent experiments, we have succeeded in transporting energy from one place to another, using those same principles . . . at least, you can think of it that way. And in the same way that we can select information from any point we choose to construct those images, so we can select precisely where in space that energy will be delivered.
УThink what that means. In a thermonuclear explosion, the amount of nuclear material actually converted into energy is tinyЧin the order of a fraction of 1 percentЧand yet the results are devastating. In the process I am talking about, the effective conversion efficiency approaches 100 percent. From one central reactor capable of producing the power required, destructive forces of unprecedented strength can be
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instantaneously directed and focused on to any ~ EarthТs surface or beyond.Ф
The stares that fixed him had by now frozer wide-eyed masks of stunned incredulity. The Si when he paused, was absolute.
УFurthermore, the means by which the targe being assailed would be completely undetectab any surveillance or defensive system that exists i world today. There is no method by which the we~ system I am describing could be interfered wi countered. Interception is impossible. As weape attack, the ICBM and the orbiting bomb are a~ moded as the battering ram.Ф
A chorus of murmurings erupted from all ar Foreshaw waved for silence. УYouТre saying that one single center, you could bomb any point on E surface . . . without the enemy even knowing you were doing it . . . without any way of an~ being able to stop you . . . ?У His face register credulity. УA superbomb that just comes Iron where. . .
Hughes stared aghast at Morelli as the words home to him. УWhat are we getting into?Ф he above the rising hubbub of excited voices. УHas gone mad?Ф