（外文电子版资料）Arthur C. Clarke - The Pacifist.pdfVIP

The Pacifist Arthur C. Clarke 1956 King Size Magazines Inc. I got to the White Hart late that evening, and when I arrived everyone was crowded into the comer under the dartboard. All except Drew, that is: he had not deserted his post, but was sitting behind the bar reading the collected T. S. Eliot. He broke off from The Confidential Clerk long enough to hand me a beer and to tell me what was going on. Erics brought in some kind of games machine-its beaten everybody so far. Sams trying his luck with it now. At that moment a roar of laughter announced that Sam had been no luckier than the rest, and I pushed my way through the crowd to see what was happening. On the table lay a flat metal box the size of a checkerboard, and divided into squares in a similar way. At the corner of each square was a two-way switch and a little neon lamp: the whole affair was plugged into the light socket (thus plunging the dartboard into darkness) and Eric Rodgers was looking round for a new victim. What does the thing do? I asked. Its a modification of naughts; and crosses-what the Americans call Tic-Tac-Toe. Shannon showed it to me when I was over at Bell Labs. What you have to do is to complete a path from one side of the board to the other-call it North to South-by turning these switches. Imagine the thing forms a grid of streets, if you like, and these neons are the traffic lights. You and the machine take turns making moves. The machine tries to block your path by building one of its own in the East-West direction-the little neons light up to tell you which way it wants to make a move. Neither track need be a straight line: you can zig-zag as much as you like. All that matters is that the path must be continuous, and the one to got across the board first wins. Meaning the machine, I suppose? Well, its never been beaten yet. Cant you force a draw, by blocking the machines path, so that at least you dont lose? Thats what were trying: like to have a g