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diff --git a/30683.txt b/30683.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3fc09f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/30683.txt @@ -0,0 +1,841 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Unthinking Destroyer, by Roger Phillips + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Unthinking Destroyer + +Author: Roger Phillips + +Illustrator: W. E. Terry + +Release Date: December 15, 2009 [EBook #30683] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNTHINKING DESTROYER *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE UNTHINKING DESTROYER + +by ROG PHILLIPS + + + Gordon and Harold both admitted the possibility of thinking entities + other than human. But would they ever recognize the physical form of + some of these beings? + + +"Hey, Gordon!" + +Gordon Marlow, Ph.D., straightened up and turned in the direction of the +voice, the garden trowel dangling in his dirt-stained white canvas +glove. His wide mouth broke into a smile that revealed even white teeth. +It was Harold Harper, an undergraduate student, who had called. + +"Hop over the fence and come in," Gordon invited. + +He dropped the trowel and, taking off his work gloves, reached into his +pocket and extracted an old pipe. He filled it, the welcoming smile +remaining on his lips, while Harold Harper approached, stepping +carefully between the rows of carrots, cabbages, and cauliflower. + +Harold held a newspaper in his hand. When he reached Gordon Marlow he +held it open and pointed to the headline. ROBOT ROCKET SHIP TO MARS. + +Gordon took the paper and read the item, puffing slowly and contentedly +on his old pipe. His eyes took on an interested look when he came to the +reporter's speculations on the possibility of intelligent life on Mars. + +Finally he handed the newspaper back to Harold. + +"You know, Harold," he said, "I wonder if they would recognize +intelligent life if they saw it on other planets." + +"Of course they would," Harold replied. "Regardless of its form there +would be artifacts that only intelligent life could create." + +"Would there?" Gordon snorted. "I wonder." + +He squatted down, picking up the trowel and lazily poking it into the +rich soil at his feet. + +"That's why I wonder," he continued. "We are so prone to set up tests on +what intelligent life is that we are likely to miss it entirely if it +doesn't conform exactly to our preconceived notions. We assume that if a +being is intelligent it must get the urge to build artifacts of some +kind--pots and vases, houses, idols, machinery, metal objects. But MUST +it? In order to do so it must have hands and perhaps legs. Suppose it +doesn't have such things? Suppose that no matter how intelligent it +might be, it could not do those things!" + +"Then it wouldn't be intelligent, would it?" Harold asked, puzzled. + +"We are assuming it is," Gordon said patiently. "There are other +outlets for intelligence than making clay pots. As a last resort for +an intelligent being there is always--thinking." + +He chuckled at his joke. + +[Illustration: Harold held a newspaper in his hands.] + +"I've often wondered what it would be like to be a thinking, reasoning +being with no powers of movement whatsoever. With bodily energy provided +automatically by environment, say, and all the days of life with nothing +to do but think. What a chance for a philosopher! What depths of thought +he might explore. What heights of intellectual perception he might +attain. And if there were some means of contact with others of his kind, +so that all could pool their thoughts and guide the younger generation, +what progress such a race might make!" + + * * * * * + +"And so we see," Ont telepathed, "that there must be a Whole of which +each of us is a part only. The old process which says 'I think, +therefore I am,' has its fallacy in the statement, 'I think.' It assumes +that that assertion is axiomatic and basic, when in reality it is the +conclusion derived from a long process of mental introspection. It is a +theory rather than an axiom." + +"But don't you think, Ont," Upt replied, "that you are confusing the +noumenon with the phenomenon? What I mean is, the fact of thinking is +there from the very start or the conclusion couldn't be reached; and the +theoretical conclusion, as you call it, is merely the final recognition +of something basic and axiomatic that was there all the time!" + +"True," Ont replied. "But still, to the thinking mind, it is a theory +and not an axiom. All noumena are there before we arrive at an +understanding of them. Thought, if it exists as such, is also there. But +the theoretical conclusion I think has no more degree of certainty than +any other thing the mind can deal with. To say 'I think' is to assert +the truth of an hypothesis which MAY be true, but not necessarily so. +And then to conclude, 'Therefore I am,' is to advance one of the most +shaky conclusions of all time. Underneath that so-called logical +conclusion lies a metaphysics of being, a theory of Wholes, a +recognition by differentiation of parts, with a denial of all but the +one part set apart by that differentiation, and, in short, the most +irrational hodgepodge of contradictory conclusions the thinking mind can +conceive. This pre-cognition that enables one to arrive at the tenuous +statement, 'I think, therefore I am,' is nicely thrown out by tagging it +with another metaphysical intangible called illusion--as if the mind can +separate illusion from reality by some absolute standard." + +"I believe you're right, Ont," Upt replied slowly, his telepathed +thoughts subdued with respect. "It is possible that the concept, 'I +think,' is the illusion, while the so-called illusions are the reality." + + * * * * * + +"Even without the benefit of past thoughts," Gordon was saying, whacking +off a weed a yard away and nearly upsetting himself, "a mind with +nothing to do but think could accomplish miracles. Suppose it was not +aware of any other thinking entity, though it might be surrounded by +such similar entities. It would be born or come into existence some way, +arrive at self-awareness and certain other awarenesses to base its +thinking on, depending on its structure, and--" he looked up at Harold +startled at his own conclusion--"it might even arrive at the ultimate +solution to all reality and comprehend the foundations of the Universe!" + +"And eventually be destroyed without any other entity having the +benefit of it all," Harold commented dryly. + +"What a pity that would be," Gordon murmured. "For the human race to +struggle for hundreds of years, and have some unguessable entity on Mars +do all that in one lifetime--and it all go to waste while some +blundering ass lands on Mars and passes it by, looking for artifacts." + + * * * * * + +"But that is only the start in the blunders contained in that most +profound philosophical revelation of old," Ont stated. "After arriving +at a precarious conclusion about existence the ancients were not +satisfied. They had to say, 'If I am I must have been created!' Then +they go on and say, 'If I was created there must be a Creator!' And thus +they soar from their precarious perch in existence, soar on nonexistent +wings, and perch on the essence of evanescence! They do not recognize +the alternative--that to exist does not necessarily imply a beginning. +They do not recognize it because they have derived all their tools from +reality around them and then denied the reality while accepting the +validity of the tools of thought derived from it. And in this way they +arrive at an absolute existence of Something they have never sensed or +felt in any way, while denying all that they have felt and sensed, and +give it attributes which their sense of idealism dictates it must have, +and call it God." + +"Then," Upt said thoughtfully, "I take it you are an atheist?" + +"Certainly NOT," Ont growled telepathically. + +"But you implied that in your comments on the conclusions of the +ancients," Upt insisted. + + * * * * * + +"But if there are no artifacts," Harold said. "And no signs of +intelligence whatever, how could we ever know that there WAS +intelligence some place?" + +"There must be some way," Gordon said. "I've taught logic at the U for +fifteen years now, and I've done a lot of thinking on the subject. If we +ever reach Mars I think we should be very careful what we touch. We +would be clumsy bulls in a china shop, not knowing the true worth of +what we found, destroying what might be found to be priceless by later +and more careful explorers. Mars is older than the Earth, and I can't +help being convinced that there is SOME form of intelligence there." + + * * * * * + +"I implied no such thing as atheism," Ont insisted. "I merely said that +the reasoning used by the ancients to arrive at the Creator was the most +slipshod and illogical possible. There was another line used long ago +that was more solid, but still very weak. It started out with the +statement, 'I can be aware of nothing but thoughts.' External stimuli, +if such there are, must be transformed into thought before I can be +aware of them. Since I can never be aware of anything other than +thought, why assume anything except thought exists? You, and all other +things, exist as thoughts in my mind. There is nothing except what +exists in my mind. Therefore, by that token, _I_ am God!" + +"But," Upt chuckled, "by the same token I can insist that _I_ am God and +you are just a product of my own creation." + +"Yes," Ont agreed. "So it presents a dilemma. To resolve it, it is +necessary to postulate a Supreme Mind, and to say that all things are +just thoughts in God's Mind. That makes us both the same then and there +is no argument about who is God!" + + * * * * * + +Harold kicked a lump of moist earth absently. + +"It seems to me, Gordon," he said cautiously, "that you are biting the +air with your teeth. If there are intelligent beings on Mars they will +be aware of us, and make themselves known. If for no other reason they +will do that to keep us from destroying them." + +Gordon stood up and arched his back. He placed the garden trowel and +gloves in the hip pocket of his coveralls and tapped his pipe on the +heel of his shoe. + +"You are assuming," he said, "that such beings can find a way to +communicate with us. But have you thought of the possibility that if +their abilities to reason are undetectable to us, by the same token they +might not be aware we are intelligent? A mad bull in a pasture can think +after a fashion, but would you try to reason with him? You would run if +he charged you, and if he caught up with you and mauled you it would +never occur to you to say, 'Look here, old boy. Let's talk this thing +over first.'" + +Both men laughed. Gordon started walking along the row he was standing +in, toward the house. Harold kept pace. + +"I see your point," he agreed. + +"There are so many things we assume unconsciously when we speculate on +the possibilities of intelligent life on Mars," Gordon went on, stooping +over to pull a weed he had missed in his earlier weeding. "Rate of +thinking is most probably a function of the material organism. Some +other thinking creature might think faster or slower--perhaps so much so +that we couldn't follow them even if we could tune in on their thoughts +directly. Imagine a mind so ponderous that it takes a year for it to +think as much as we do in a minute! Speed wouldn't necessarily have to +be a function of size, either. Something incredibly small might take +ages to think a simple thought. Have you ever heard the German tale +called The Three Sleepers, Harold?" + +"No, I haven't," Harold replied. + + * * * * * + +"Well, in a small town in Germany there were three men so fat that they +could barely walk. They spent nearly all their time sleeping. The only +trouble was that every day or so someone would disturb them by singing +or walking by, or some other trivial thing that is always happening in a +small town, no matter how dead it is. + +"One time when they were disturbed three days running they got mad and +decided to go to the hills. They looked in the hills until they found a +nice dry cave. There they relaxed with deep sighs of contentment and +went to sleep. Day after day, week after week, they slept undisturbed. + +"Then one day a dog wandered into the cave, saw the three breathing +mountains of flesh and heard the din of their deep snoring; and, scared +half to death, let out a shrill yip and skedaddled. + +"A week later one of the three sleepers stirred, opened his eyes +briefly, and muttered, 'What was that noise?' Then he promptly went back +to sleep. + +"Ten days later the second sleeper stirred, muttered, 'Damfino,' and +went back to sleep. + +"Nearly a month later the third sleeper opened his eyes suddenly, stared +at the roof of the cave for a moment, and said, 'I think it was a dog.' +Then he went back to sleep. The way the story goes nothing ever came +near the cave again, so they are still there, fast asleep--still fat, +too, I suppose." + +"I see what you're driving at," Harold said, chuckling over the story. +"We assume that any intelligent being whatever, if it exists, thinks at +the same RATE we do; but it might not." + +"That's right," Gordon admitted. "And there are even more subtle +assumptions we make unconsciously. For one, we assume that a thinking +creature must think in the same way we do. We might not even be able to +recognize thinking when we meet it, on another planet. No--" he held up +his hand to silence the question on Harold's lips, "--I don't know +exactly what I mean. I'll put it this way. We have steam engines and +gasoline engines. We also have electric motors. Suppose we have +steam-engine thought. How would we recognize electric-motor thinking? + +"Or perhaps a little closer to what I'm trying to express, we have +arithmetic and algebra. Suppose with our arithmetic minds with no +slightest inkling of the existence of a variable, we run into an algebra +mind? We might mistake it for something far removed from thinking or +intelligence. We go on the assumption that anything that doesn't stomp +up, give a salute, and solemnly announce 'How', is unintelligent." + +"It might just be more interested in its own thoughts than in the +visitors from Earth," Harold suggested. + +"It might," Gordon said. "Or it might be intensely curious and studying +the Earthmen very closely with senses other than sight and hearing." + + * * * * * + +"But," Ont added thoughtfully, "although the conclusion that we are all +thoughts in the mind of the Creator is logically unshakeable, it isn't +very satisfying, from a logical point, because it makes God nothing more +than the compromising of a cute dilemma. It places the Creator in the +same light as the final decision to locate the Capitol of the United +States at Washington." + +"Where's that?" Upt asked quickly. + +"I don't know," Ont said testily. "That's just something I picked up out +of the blue, so to speak. Inspirational thought. For all I know it's +just a figment of my imagination." + +"I've had inspirational thoughts too," Upt said excitedly. "I haven't +spoken of them to you because I was afraid you might think I was +becoming disorganized in my thoughts." + +"I've done a lot of thinking about the inspirational stuff I get now and +then," Ont said matter-of-factly. "If it came all the time I would be +inclined to think it was the Voice of the Supreme Being Itself! But it +doesn't come that way." + +"Neither does mine," Upt said. "I often think there must be angels that +hover over us at times and bless us with their wise thoughts, perhaps +looking into us to see if we are 'ready' yet. When I seem to sense these +powerful thoughts about me I try to feel humble and worshipful. I hope +in that way one of them will see fit to reveal himself to me someday." + +"They might," Ont said hopefully. "I wouldn't mind actually talking to +one of them myself. But speaking of that, we don't know for sure that +these inspirational thoughts aren't actually our own. They SEEM +different, but that may be because they arise in some part of our deep +subconscious thought processes. I've been trying to extend my sense of +awareness in order to reach into my subconscious mind and actually plumb +it to its depths. One thing I've found is that most of my REAL thinking +goes on there, and only rises to the surface of consciousness when it is +completed! That lends probability to the theory that ALL such voices of +inspiration are merely my own subconscious mind giving me the end +products of carefully thought out trains of reasoning it had dreamed +up." + +"I think I'll try that line of development myself," Upt said. "I'd never +thought of it. Maybe inspiration is only subconscious thought rising to +the surface of consciousness. Maybe it is. But if so, I'll be very +disappointed. I'd hoped sometime to be able to commune with some +intelligence infinitely superior to mine and really learn the true +nature of things." + + * * * * * + +"I sincerely hope I'm wrong about it," Ont said. "I too would like to +believe that there is more in reality than just us. I wonder if other +kinds of entities are possible? I mean thinking beings with different +forms, different senses, perhaps different types of thinking. It may be +they exist and we aren't equipped to detect them. They may be around us +all the time, aware of us and our puerile thoughts, but so superior to +us in every way that they don't think it worth while even to consider +our feeble cogitations." + +"I wouldn't call YOUR cogitations feeble, Ont," Upt exclaimed +admiringly. + +"That is a point of relativity," Ont said, somewhat flattered. "It does +seem in vain, though. We spend our existence in solving the problems of +reality, and when we have solved them we have no need of the solution. +It gives us a feeling of satisfaction to gain the theoretical basis of +reality from our point of view. But I for one would feel much better if +we could be of service to some entity who is unable to accomplish that +himself, but might be able to comprehend it if we taught him." + +"All very noble," Upt said skeptically. "But I can't even imagine a +thinking creature different from us in any way." + +"That's why it's so difficult," Ont said. "In our own minds we tend to +become absolute rather than relative in our conceptions. Some other +entity might, for example, think much more slowly than we, or with +incredible rapidity, so that our thoughts would be sluggish to him, or +so swift that he would never be able to grasp them until long after we +were gone. + +"Also, we tend to think that thought as we experience it, is the only +possible type of thought. In reality there may be others. Different +mental principles. Different material structure. Perhaps concepts +outside our ability to grasp, while ours might be outside the ability of +such creatures to grasp also." + +"I don't believe I grasp what you're trying to say," Upt hesitated. + +"Well, put it this way," Ont said patiently. "All things are relative. +Why not thought? It might be possible to have two thinking minds which +are relatively non-thinking. Each, from EVERY standard of the other, +being totally thoughtless and without intelligence or mind." + +"Now you're going too far," Upt said. "Thought is thought, I think, +and--it's real. If any other entity thinks, its thinking must be real +too." + +"Of course," Ont murmured. "You miss the point entirely. If from every +possible angle, some entity, to YOU, can't think and doesn't, it is +non-thinking and unintelligent. Right?" + + * * * * * + +Gordon and Harold paused at the edge of the garden. + +"Nice crop of vegetables you have there, Gordon," Harold said +appreciatively. + +"Thanks," Gordon said. "Say, wouldn't your wife like some fresh +vegetables?" + +Without waiting for an answer he stepped back into the garden, taking a +knife from his pocket. + +"These are nice now," he said, bending over and cutting. "Won't be much +longer though. Brown spots developing already. I'll scrape off the brown +stuff for you, but tell your wife to cook them right away. In a couple +of days they'll spoil." + + * * * * * + +"Upt!" Ont exclaimed, exasperated. "Why don't you answer me, Upt? Upt! +Where are you, Upt? Why don't you answer?" + + * * * * * + +"There you are," Gordon said, smiling, as he handed Harold the head of +cauliflower. + +"Thanks," Harold said, accepting the white, fresh head, and balancing it +in his palm. + +The two men continued up the walk to the house. + +"As I was saying," Gordon took up their conversation, "when men get to +Mars, if they aren't careful they may destroy a civilization, or even +thousands of intelligent beings, without knowing it...." + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ December 1948. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Unthinking Destroyer, by Roger Phillips + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNTHINKING DESTROYER *** + +***** This file should be named 30683.txt or 30683.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/6/8/30683/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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