Project Gutenberg 2016-03-17 Public domain in the USA. 109 Stecher, L. J., Jr. 1918 1988 Stecher, Lewis J., Jr. Stecher, L. J. Wesley, Joseph Francis, Dick Francis, Richard D. Perfect Answer Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Perfect Answer" by L. J. Stecher, Jr. is a science fiction novella that was published in the late 1950s. This story explores the intersections of humanity and technology through the encounter of two space explorers, Jack Bates and Bill Farnum, with an advanced artificial intelligence known as the Oracle. The narrative focuses on the implications of having access to absolute knowledge and the potential consequences for civilization. In the story, Bates and Farnum land on a seemingly civilized planet where they encounter the Oracle, a machine designed to provide accurate answers to any questions posed to it. The Oracle reveals that it was created to serve as a weapon against humanity's tendency toward depravity and self-destruction, with the aim of keeping human progress in check. As Farnum perceives the danger of the Oracle's influence, he becomes increasingly desperate to warn Earth of the threat it poses. Meanwhile, Bates, driven by greed and ambition, wishes to control the Oracle’s knowledge for personal gain. This clash of motivations leads to tragic consequences, culminating in a moral dilemma that questions the nature of power, dependence, and the very fabric of civilization itself. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction Short stories Human-alien encounters -- Fiction Explorers -- Fiction Artificial intelligence -- Fiction Interstellar travel -- Fiction Computers -- Fiction Questions and answers -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 50232 50237 2024-09-21T12:45:54.383000 2023-09-22T09:45:00.889932 text/html text/html 46229 2016-03-17T09:46:36 text/html; charset=us-ascii 180583 2016-03-17T09:46:36 text/html; charset=us-ascii application/zip 202097 2024-09-21T12:45:56.245003 application/epub+zip 201015 2024-09-21T12:45:54.760029 application/epub+zip 77286 2024-09-21T12:45:54.554003 application/epub+zip 237116 2024-09-21T12:45:57.545981 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 229929 2024-09-21T12:45:56.031992 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 106496 2022-09-23T12:38:52.566151 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 43332 43237 2024-09-21T12:45:54.257006 2023-09-22T09:45:00.674919 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 43223 2016-03-17T09:46:36 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16543 2016-03-17T09:46:36 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20542 2024-09-21T12:45:57.675979 application/rdf+xml 28140 2024-09-21T12:45:54.619002 image/jpeg 4757 2024-09-21T12:45:54.586001 image/jpeg 181622 2024-09-21T12:45:54.394000 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog