Watchbird

Strange how often the Millennium has been at hand. The idea is peace on Earth, see, and the way to do it is by figuring out angles. Show Excerpt e in on the first week of watchbird operation," his secretary told him. "How do they look?" "Wonderful, sir." "Send them in in fifteen minutes." Gelsen switched the intercom off and turned back to Macintyre, who was cleaning his fingernails with a wooden match. "Don't you think that this represents a trend in human thinking? The mechanical god? The electronic father?" "Chief," Macintyre said, "I think you should study watchbird more closely. Do you know what's built into the circuits?" "Only generally." "First, there is a purpose. Which is to stop living organisms from committing murder. Two, murder may be defined as an act of violence, consisting of breaking, mangling, maltreating or otherwise stopping the functions of a living organism by a living organism. Three, most murderers are detectable by certain chemical and electrical changes." Macintyre paused to light another cigarette. "Those conditions take care of the routine functions. Then, for the learning c