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| "The Pacifist" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short story by Arthur C. Clarke | |||
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| Country | United Kingdom | ||
| Language | English | ||
| Genre(s) | Science fiction | ||
| Publication | |||
| Published in | Fantastic Universe | ||
| Publisher | King Size Magazines | ||
| Publication date | October 1956 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| Series | Tales from the White Hart | ||
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"The Pacifist" is a science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1956 in Fantastic Universe. It appears in his collection of "science fiction tall tales," Tales from the White Hart.
The story deals with a computer programmer's revenge on his unreasonable military boss by tinkering with software code in a way that makes his boss the laughingstock of the organization.
"The Pacifist" details the construction of a supercomputer within "a cavern in Kentucky" (Clarke may have been thinking of Mammoth Cave, then suspected, and later known, to be the world's longest known cave system). The purpose of the computer is military battle simulation, and the details of all known historical battles have been stored in the computer's data banks.
The computer's designer, nicknamed "Dr. Milquetoast" by the story-within-a-story's narrator, works under the harsh supervision of a military General. By way of revenge, Dr. Milquetoast programs the computer so that it will answer purely theoretical or mathematical questions put to it, but when asked to solve a military problem, responds by insulting the General using phrases industriously prepared by the programmer. Frustration mounts as the General realizes that because the computer is aware of every known historical military battle, it is capable of recognizing such scenarios even when couched in purely mathematical terms.[1]
- ^ "The Pacifist". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-04-20.