Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:15 — 6.7MB)
A nerdy engineer demonstrates a new invention. As part of the team, he doesn’t know exactly how It works, just in generalities. He explains the room sized computing device that spans 3 rooms, and took years to build the mechanical brain.
Reporters are skeptical. What is the machine good for? How does the computer nerd know the complex equation is accurate? Wouldn’t it take 20 mathematicians 10 years working the formula, just so they could verify it? What if there was an error, wouldn’t the error be duplicated and magnified? When a simple addition problem fails, the embarrassment hits the headlines. Is the machine mad at a comment the nerd made about it?
After checking the systems, and subsystems, the machine refuses to work, until the nerd is going to be out of a job. Then it speaks to him. Will the reporters believe the new turn of events? The machine refuses to speak with others present, but the female reporter may be onto something when a matter of jealousy is detected.
PS: Did this guy just invent Siri? Nah…
