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Speaker 1: The Thinking Machine by Jacques Foutreu, it was absolutely impossible.

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Twenty five chess masters from the world at large FOE,

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gathered in Boston for the annual Championships, unanimously declared it impossible.

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And unanimity on any given point is an unusual mental

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condition for chess masters. Not one would concede for an

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instant that it was within the range of human achievement.

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Some grew red in the face as they argued it.

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Others smiled loftily and were silent. Still others dismissed the matter,

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in a word, as wholly absurd. A casual remark by

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the distinguished scientist and logician, Professor Augustus s. F X

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van Dusan provoked the discussion. He had in the past

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aroused bitter disputes by some chance. Remark, in fact, had

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been once a sort of controversial center of the sciences.

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It had been due to his modest announcement of a

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startling and unorthodox hypothesis that he had been invited to

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vacate the chair of philosophy in a great university. Later

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that university had felt honoured when he accepted its degree

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of LD. For a score of years educational and scientific

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institutions of the world had amused themselves by crowding degrees

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upon him. He had initials that stood for things he

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couldn't pronounce, degrees from France, England, Russia, Germany, Italy, Sweden

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and Spain. These were expressed recognition of the fact that

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his was the foremost brain in the sciences. The imprint

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of his crabbed personality lay heavily on half a dozen

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of its branches. Finally, there came a time when argument

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was respectfully silent in the face of one of his conclusions.

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The remark which had rayed the chess masters of the

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world into so formidable and unanimous a descent, was made

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by Professor van Dusen in the presence of three other gentlemen.

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Of note, one of these, doctor Charles Elbert, happened to

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be a chess enthusiast. Chess is a shameless perversion of

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the functions of the brain, was Professor van Duson's declaration,

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in his perpetually irritated voice. It is a sheer waste

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of effort, greater because it is possibly the most difficult

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of all fixed abstract problems. Of course, logic will solve it.

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Logic will solve any problem, not most of them, but

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any problem. A thorough understanding of its rules would enable

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anyone to defeature greatest chess players. It would be inevitable,

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just as inevitable as that two and two make four.

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Not sometimes, but all the time. I don't know chess

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because I never do useless things. But I could take

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a few hours of competent instruction and defeat a man

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who has devoted his life to it. His mind is cramped,

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bound down to the logic of chess. Mine is not mine,

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employs logic in its widest scope. Doctor Elbert shook his

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head vigorously. It is impossible, he asserted. Nothing is impossible,

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snapped the scientist. The human mind can do anything. It

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is all we have to lift us above the brute creation.

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For Heaven's sake, leave us that. The aggressive tone, the

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uncompromising egotism, brought a flush to Doctor Elbert's face. Professor

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Van Duson affected many persons that way, particularly those fellows savants,

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who themselves men of distinction had ideas of their own.

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Do you know the purposes of chess? It's countless combinations?

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Asked doctor Albert. No was the crabbed reply, I know

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nothing whatever of the game beyond the general purpose, which

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I understand to be to move certain pieces in certain

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directions to stop an opponent from moving his king. Is

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that correct, yes, said Doctor Albert slowly. But I never

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heard it stated just that way before. Then, if that

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is correct, I maintain that the true logician can defeat

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the chess expert by the pure mechanical rules of logic.

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I'll take a few hours some time acquaint myself with

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the moves of the pieces and defeat you to convince you,

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Professor van Dusen glared savagely into the eyes of doctor Albert.

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Not me, said doctor Albert. You say any one you,

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for instance, might defeat the greatest chess player. Would you

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be willing to meet the greatest chess player after you

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acquaint yourself with the game? Certainly, said the scientist. I

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have frequently found it necessary to make a fool of

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myself to convince people. I'll do it again. This, then,

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was the acrimonious beginning of the discussion, which aroused chess

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masters and brought open descent from eminent men who had

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not dared for years to dispute any assertion by the

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distinguished Professor van Dusen. It was arranged that at the

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conclusion of the championships, Professor van Dusen should meet the winner.

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This happened to be Tchaikowski, the Russian, who had been

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championed for half a dozen years. After this expected result

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of the tournament, Hillsbury, a noted American master, spent a

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morning with profess Sir van Dussin in the latter's modest

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apartments on Beacon Hill. He left there with a sadly

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puzzled face. That afternoon, Professor van Dusen met the Russian champion.

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The newspapers had set a great deal about the affair,

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and hundreds were present to witness the game. There was

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a little murmur of astonishment when Professor van Duson appeared.

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He was slight, almost childlike in body, and his thin

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shoulders seemed to droop beneath the weight of his enormous head.

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He wore a number eight hat. His brow rose straight

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and dome like, and a heavy shock of long yellow

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hair gave him almost a grotesque appearance. The eyes were

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narrow slits of blue, squinting eternally through thick spectacles. The

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face was small, clean shaven, drawn and white. With the

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pallor of the student, His lips made a perfectly straight line.

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His hands were remarkable for their whiteness, their flexibility, and

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for the length of the slender fingers. One glance showed

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that physical development had never entered into the schedule of

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the scientists fifty years of life. The Russian smiled as

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he sat down at the chest table. He felt that

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he was humoring a crank. The other masters were grouped nearby,

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curiously expectant. Professor van Dusan began the game, opening with

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a queen's gambit. At his fifth move, made without the

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slightest hesitation, the smile left the Russian's face. At the

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tenth the masters grew intensely eager. The Russian champion was

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playing for honor now. Professor van Duson's fourteenth move was

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King's castle to Queen's four check. He announced after a

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long study of the board, the Russian protected his king

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with a knight. Professor van Duson noted the play, then

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leaned back in his chair with fingertips pressed together. His

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eyes left the board and dreamily studied the ceiling. For

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at least ten minutes. There was no sound, no movement.

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Then mate, in fifteen moves, he said quietly. There was

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a quick gasp of astonishment. It took the practiced eyes

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of the masters several minutes to verify the announcement, but

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the Russian champion saw and leaned back in his chair,

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a little white and dazed. He was not astonished. He

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was helplessly floundering in a maze of incomprehensible things. Suddenly

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he arose and grasped the slender hand of his conqueror.

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You have never played chess before, he asked. Never, mon dieu,

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You are not a man. You are a brain, a machine,

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a thinking machine. It's a child's game, said the scientist abruptly.

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There was no note of exultation in his voice. It

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was still the irritable, impersonal tone which was habitual. This

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then was Professor Augustus s f X van Dusen pH

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d L d frs M D et cetera, et cetera,

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et cetera. And this is how he came to be

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known to the world at large as the Thinking Machine.

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The Russian's phrase had been applied to the scientist as

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a title by a newspaper reporter hutcheson hatch. It had

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stuck end of the thinking machine and