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From: levin@cc2.bbn.com
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Sentient computer short-short story
Message-ID: <452@rutgers.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Wed, 26-Nov-86 07:41:42 EST
Article-I.D.: rutgers.452
Posted: Wed Nov 26 07:41:42 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Nov-86 17:55:30 EST
Sender: daemon@rutgers.RUTGERS.EDU
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: Joel B Levin <levin@cc2.bbn.com>

>From: PUGH%CCX.MFENET@LLL-MFE.ARPA
>                         . . .  a great many of the best sentient
>computer stories were of the short variety.  Including the first and
>most classic short-short where they fired up the first sentient
>computer and asked it "Is there a God?" and the computer said,
>"There is now!"  It was a one page story that I read LONG ago.

<Bibliography isn't my business>, and my memory tends to leak; while I
can't tell you the name of the book I saw it in (it was high school or
earlier) I am quite sure it was written by Frederic Brown (of "Arena"
and _Rogue_in_Space_ fame).  A book of his short stories had a two page
short short between each normal length short story and this was one of
them (at the ribbon cutting and powering up ceremony for the latest and
greatest don't-this-beat-all computer, they ask the question "Is there a
God?".  As a bolt of lightning fuses the power switch, a great voice
replies . . .).

	/JBL

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