02609cam a22004093u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000360011324500190014926400510016830000470021933600260026633700260029233800360031849000510035450000310040550801080043652012610054453400450180565300200185065300180187065300380188865300250192665300390195165300350199065300250202565300370205070000180208783000510210585600430215651482UtSlPG20260610134203.0mcr n260607r2016||||utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aStecher, L. J., Jr.,d1918-198810aPerfect Answer 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2016  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aProduced from Galaxy Science Fiction June 1958  aRelease date is 2016-03-17  aProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net  a"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.)  nOriginal publication data not identified  aScience fiction  aShort stories  aHuman-alien encounters -- Fiction  aExplorers -- Fiction  aArtificial intelligence -- Fiction  aInterstellar travel -- Fiction  aComputers -- Fiction  aQuestions and answers -- Fiction1 aFrancis, Dick 0aProduced from Galaxy Science Fiction June 195840uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51482