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167
The Status Civilization
·
Robert Sheckley
149
"Because
everything
in
atomics
is
automatized.
I
don't
know
if
the
majority
of
the
population
knows
that,
but
it's
true.
From
raw
material
to
finished
product,
it's
all
completely
automatic.
The
only
human
participation
in
the
program
is
quantity-control
in
terms
of
population
indexes.
And
even
that
is
minimal."
"What
happens
if
a
part
of
an
automatic
factory
breaks
down?"
"It
gets
fixed
by
robot
repair
units."
"And
if
they
break
down?"
"The
damned
things
are
self-repairing.
All
I
can
do
is
stand
by
and
watch,
and
fill
out
a
report.
Which
is
a
ridiculous
position
for
a
man
who
considers
himself
an
engineer."
"Why
don't
you
turn
to
some
other
field?"
"No
use.
I've
checked,
and
the
rest
of
the
engineers
are
in
the
same
position
I'm
in,
watching
automatic
processes
which
they
don't
understand.
Name
your
field:
food
processing,
automobile
manufacture,
construction,
biochem.,
it's
all
the
same.
Either
stand-by
engineers
or
no
engineers
at
all."
"This
is
true
for
spaceflight
also?"
"Sure.
No
member
of
the
spacepilot's
union
has
been
off
Earth
for
close
to
fifty
years.
They
wouldn't
know
how
to
operate
a
ship."
"I
see.
All
the
ships
are
set
for
automatic."
"Exactly.
Permanently
and
irrevocably
automatic."
"What
would
happen
if
these
ships
ran
into
an
unprecedented
situation?"
"That's
hard
to
say.
The
ships
can't
think,
you
know;
they
simply
follow
pre-set
programs.
If
the
ships
ran
into
a
situation
for
which
they
were
not
programmed,
they'd
be
paralyzed,
at
least
temporarily.
I
think
they
have
an
optimum-choice
selector
which
is
supposed
to
take
over
unstructured
situations;
but
it's
never
been
tried
out.
At
best,
it
would
react
sluggishly.
At
worst,
it
wouldn't
work
at
all.
And
that
would
be
fine
by
me."
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