human
Just a second, Sam said.
gpt
There's one thing that I don't really quite see. I can see that the situation you outline would develop if every power plant in America--or in the Soviet Union or Europe--were to be suddenly replaced by Converters. I can see that chaos would result.
human
But that's not the way it will work! You can't do a thing like that overnight. To mass produce the Converter will take time--factories will have to be tooled up for it, and all that. And distribution will take time. It seems to me that there would be plenty of time to adjust.
gpt
Don't you see, Mr. Bending? The threat of the machine is enough! Even here in your own country, just the knowledge that such machines were to be made at some time in the immediate future would have a disastrous effect! Who would invest in Power Utilities if they knew that within a short time it would be bankrupt? No one would want to buy such stock, and those who had it would be frantically trying to sell what they had. The effect on the banking system would be the same as if the machine were already being used. Your Mr. Roosevelt pointed out that fear was the problem.
human
I don't see--
gpt
Let me see if I can't give you an analogy, Mr. Bending. Do you know anything about the so-called 'nerve gases'?
human
Some, admitted Sam.
gpt
Most of them aren't gases; they're finely dispersed aerosols.
human
Have you any idea how much it takes to kill a man?
gpt
A drop or so of the aerosol on the skin is enough, I understand.
human
That's right. Now, how can such a minute amount of poison damage a human being?
gpt
Well, I know that some of them suppress the enzymic action with acetylcholine, which means that the nerves simply act as though their synapses had been shorted through. It only takes a small percentage of that kind of damage to the nerve fibers to ruin the whole nervous system. The signals get jammed up and confused, and the whole mechanism ceases to function. The victim dies.