human
At last we learn the identity of this great research worker, Christianson murmured as he scanned the closely typed sheets. Carlstrom and Eklund waited impatiently, wondering at the peculiar expression that fixed itself on Christianson's face. Fine beads of sweat appeared on the professor's high narrow forehead as he laid the letter down.
gpt
Well, he said heavily,
human
Know what? Eklund demanded.
gpt
What does it say? Does she accept?
human
She accepts, Christianson said in a peculiar half-strangled tone as he passed the letter to Eklund.
gpt
See for yourself.
human
Why, he demanded of no one in particular,
gpt
It was bound to happen sometime, Carlstrom said.
human
It's just our misfortune that it happened to us. He chuckled as he passed the letter back to Christianson.
gpt
At least this year the presentation should be an event worth remembering.
human
It seems that we have a little problem, Christianson said, making what would probably be the understatement of the century. Possibly there would be greater understatements in the remaining ninety-nine years of the Twenty-first Century, but Carlstrom doubted it.
gpt
We certainly have our necks out,
human
We can't do it! Eklund exploded.
gpt
We simply can't award the Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology to that ... that _C. Edie_!
human
We can hardly do anything else, Christianson said.
gpt
There's no question as to the identity of the winner. Dr. Hanson's letter makes that unmistakably clear. And there's no question that the award is deserved.
human
We still could award it to someone else,
gpt
Not a chance. We've already said too much to the press. It's known all over the world that the medical award is going to the discoverer of the basic cause of cancer, to the founder of modern neoplastic therapy. Christianson grimaced.
human
If we changed our decision now, there'd be all sorts of embarrassing questions from the press.
gpt
I can see it now, Carlstrom said,
human
You needn't rub it in, Christianson said unhappily.
gpt
I can see it, too.
human
These Americans! Eklund said bitterly. He wiped his damp forehead. The picture Carlstrom had drawn was accurate but hardly appealing.
gpt
One simply can't trust them. Publishing a report as important as that as a laboratory release. They should have given proper credit.
human
They did, Carlstrom said.
gpt
They did--precisely. But the world, including us, was too stupid to see it. We have only ourselves to blame.
human
If it weren't for the fact that the work was inspired and effective, Christianson muttered,
gpt
But we must consider the source, Eklund protested.
human
This award will make the prize for medicine a laughingstock. No doctor will ever accept another. If we go through with this, we might as well forget about the medical award from now on. This will be its swan song. It hits too close to home. Too many people have been saying similar things about our profession and its trend toward specialization. And to have the Nobel Prize confirm them would alienate every doctor in the world. We simply can't do it.
gpt
Yet who else has made a comparable discovery? Or one that is even half as important?
human
That's a good question, Carlstrom said,
gpt
Their task would be easier than ours, Christianson said wearily.
human
After all, the criteria of art are more flexible. Medicine, unfortunately, is based upon facts.
gpt
That's the hell of it,
human
There must be some way to solve this problem, Eklund said.
gpt
After all it was a perfectly natural mistake. We never suspected that Alphax was a physical rather than a biological sciences laboratory. Perhaps that might offer grounds--
human
I don't think so, Carlstrom interrupted.
gpt
The means in this case aren't as important as the results, and we can't deny that the cancer problem is virtually solved.
human
Even though men have been saying for the past two generations that the answer was probably in the literature and all that was needed was someone with the intelligence and the time to put the facts together, the fact remains that it was C. Edie who did the job. And it required quite a bit more than merely collecting facts. Intelligence and original thinking of a high order was involved.
gpt
Some_one_, Eklund said bitterly.
human
Some _thing_ you mean. _C. Edie_--C.E.D.--Computer, Extrapolating, Discriminatory. Manufactured by Alphax Laboratories, Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.A. _C. Edie!_ Americans!!--always naming things. A machine wins the Nobel Prize. It's fantastic!
gpt
It's not fantastic, unfortunately. And I see no way out. We can't even award the prize to the team of engineers who designed and built Edie. Dr. Hanson is right when he says the discovery was Edie's and not the engineers'. It would be like giving the prize to Albert Einstein's parents because they created him.
human
Is there any way we can keep the presentation secret?
gpt
I'm afraid not. The presentations are public. We've done too good a job publicizing the Nobel Prize. As a telecast item, it's almost the equal of the motion picture Academy Award.
human
I can imagine the reaction when our candidate is revealed in all her metallic glory. A two-meter cube of steel filled with microminiaturized circuits, complete with flashing lights and cogwheels, Carlstrom chuckled.
gpt
And where are you going to hang the medal?
human
I wish you wouldn't give that metal nightmare a personality, he said.
gpt
It unnerves me. Personally, I wish that Dr. Hanson, Alphax Laboratories, and Edie were all at the bottom of the ocean--in some nice deep spot like the Mariannas Trench. He shrugged.
human
Of course, we won't have that sort of luck, so we'll have to make the best of it.
gpt
It just goes to show that you can't trust Americans, Eklund said.
human
I've always thought we should keep our awards on this side of the Atlantic where people are sane and civilized. Making a personality out of a computer--ugh! I suppose it's their idea of a joke.
gpt
I doubt it, Christianson said.
human
They just like to name things--preferably with female names. It's a form of insecurity, the mother fixation. But that's not important. I'm afraid, gentlemen, that we shall have to make the award as we have planned. I can see no way out. After all, there's no reason why the machine cannot receive the prize. The conditions merely state that it is to be presented to the one, regardless of nationality, who makes the greatest contribution to medicine or physiology.
gpt
I wonder how His Majesty will take it,
human
The king! I'd forgotten that!
gpt
I expect he'll have to take it, Christianson said.
human
He might even appreciate the humor in the situation.
gpt
Gustaf Adolf is a good king, but there are limits,
human
There are other considerations, Christianson replied.
gpt
After all, Edie is the reason the Crown Prince is still alive, and Gustaf is fond of his son.
human
After all these years?
gpt
I'm sure His Majesty will cooperate. He has a strong sense of duty and since the real problem is his, not ours, I doubt if he will shirk it.
human
How do you figure that?
gpt
We merely select the candidates according to the rules, and according to the nature of their contribution. Edie is obviously the outstanding candidate in medicine for this year. It deserves the prize. We would be compromising with principle if we did not award it fairly.
human
I suppose you're right, Eklund said gloomily.
gpt
I can't think of any reasonable excuse to deny the award.
human
Nor I, Carlstrom said.
gpt
But what did you mean by that remark about this being the king's problem?
human
You forget, Christianson said mildly.
gpt
Of all of us, the king has the most difficult part. As you know, the Nobel Prize is formally presented at a State banquet.
human
Well?
gpt
His Majesty is the host, Christianson said.
human
And just how does one eat dinner with an electronic computer?