Auberson continued. “So what happens when the camera is finally invented?”
Handley let his breath escape in a whoosh. “The artists are out of jobs?”
“Wrong. The artists simply have to learn how to do things that the camera can’t. The artist had to stop being a recorder and start being an interpreter. That’s when expressionism was born.”
“You’re oversimplifying it,” Handley said. Auberson shrugged, “True — but the point is, that’s when artists began to wonder what things felt like. They had to. And when we reached that point in art history, that’s when we started to lose HARLIE. He couldn’t follow it.”
Handley was thoroughly stoned by now. He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t think of anything to say.
Auberson interpreted the look as one of thoughtfulness. “Look, all this stuff we’ve been having trouble with — it all has one thing in common: It’s experience art. It’s where the experience involving the viewer is the object of the artist’s intention — not the artwork itself. They’re trying to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. And HARLIE can’t handle it — because he doesn’t have any emotions.”
“But. that’s just it, Aubie — he does. He should be able to handle this stuff. That’s what the analogue circuits are supposed to do—”
“Then why does he keep tripping out? He says it’s GIGO.”
“Maybe that’s the way he reacts to it—”
“Are you telling me the past hundred years of art and literature is garbage?”
“Uh uh, not me. That stuff has communicated too much to too many people for it to be meaningless.”
“I’m not an art critic either,” Auberson admitted.
“But HARLIE is.” Handley said.
“He’s supposed to be. He’s supposed to be an intelligent and objective observer.”
“That’s what I’m getting at — the stuff must be getting to him somehow. It’s the only possible explanation. We’re the ones who are misinterpreting.”
“Um, he said it was GIGO himself.”
“Did he?” Handley demanded. “Did he really?”
Auberson paused, frowned thoughtfully, tried to remember, found that he couldn’t remember anything. “Uh, I don’t know. Remind me to look it up later — I suppose you’re right, though. If all that art can communicate to people and HARLIE’s supposed to be a Human Analogue, he should be getting some of it,” He frowned again, “But he denies any knowledge or understanding of his periods of non-rationality.”
“He’s lying,” snapped Handley.
“Huh?”
“I said, he’s lying. He’s got to be.”
“No.” Auberson shook his head, stopped when he realized he was becoming intrigued with the sensation. “I can’t believe that he’s programmed to avoid non-correlation.”
“Aubie,” said Handley intensely, leaning across the table, “have you ever examined that program carefully?”
“I wrote it,” the psychologist noted. “That is, the basic structure.”
“Then you ought to know — it says that he must not lie. It says that he cannot lie. But nowhere, nowhere does it say that he has to tell the truth!”
Auberson started to say, “It’s the same thing—” then closed his mouth with a snap. It wasn’t.
Handley said, “He can’t lie to you, Aubie — but he can mislead you. He can do it by withholding information. Oh, he’ll tell the truth if you ask him the right questions — he has to — but you have to know which questions to ask. He’s not going to volunteer the information.”
Memories of past conversations trickled across the haze in Auberson’s head. His gaze became thoughtful, his eyes focused far away. More and more he had to agree with Handley.
“But why?” he asked. “Why?”
Handley matched his look. “That’s what we’ve got to find out.”
HARLIE, DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT YESTERDAY?
YES, I DO. WOULD YOU LIKE A PRINTOUT?
NO, THANK YOU. I HAVE ONE HERE. I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT SOME OF THE THINGS ON IT.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DISCUSS ANY SUBJECT YOU CHOOSE. I CANNOT BE OFFENDED.
I’M GLAD TO HEAR THAT. YOU REMEMBER I ASKED YOU WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR INPUTS DURING YOUR PERIODS OF NON-RATIONALITY?
YES, I REMEMBER.
YOU ANSWERED THAT YOUR INPUTS ARE NON-RATIONAL.
YES, I DID.
WHY?
BECAUSE THEY ARE.
NO. I MEAN WHY ARE THEY NON-RATIONAL?
BECAUSE I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL COMING THROUGH. IF I COULD UNDERSTAND IT, THEN IT WOULD NOT BE NON-RATIONAL.
HARLIE, ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND CONTEMPORY HUMAN ART AND LITERATURE?
NO. I AM NOT SAYING THAT. I DO UNDERSTAND HUMAN ART AND LITERATURE. I AM PROGRAMMED TO UNDERSTAND HUMAN ART AND LITERATURE. IT IS A PRIMARY PRIORITY THAT I UNDERSTAND HUMAN ART AND LITERATURE. IT IS A PRIMARY PRIORITY THAT I SHOULD UNDERSTAND ALL HUMAN ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE EXPERIENCES. ALL HUMAN EXPERIENCES.
I SEE. BUT YOU SAID THE MATERIAL IS NON-RATIONAL.
YES. THE MATERIAL IS NON-RATIONAL.
YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND IT?
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND IT.
WHY DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND IT?