The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Douglas Adams wonderful follow up to The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy. But if we were to look at this science fiction novel in terms of what it says about AI, I feel quite certainly that Adams believes, as I do, that man s obsession with making machines in his own likeness will eventually backfire on him. In Adams universe every machine has not only been imbued with intelligence, but also with emotions.
Robots are so smart they can t relate to anybody.
And drink dispensers, capable of providing any drink in the universe, can tie up an entire ship s control while trying to figure out how to get just the perfect taste of Earl Grey tea. Marvin spends much of his natural language processing skills in describing his depression. The worst part is that for the most part, no one pays him much attention. The Happy Vertical People Transporters are also nothing but trouble. Not unnaturally, many elevators imbued with intelligence and precognition become terribly frustrated with the mindless business of going up and down, up and down, experimented briefly with the notion of going sideways, as sort of an existential protest, demanded participation in the decision making process and finally took to squatting in basements sulking.