Digit dig
Sir: I thoroughly enjoyed reading the letter of Derek Partridge (15 October), Professor of Computer Science at Exeter University, not least because I am pleased to be able to introduce to your readers a typical response from a computer scientist to the detailed arguments set out in my article 'Not with a bang but a bleep' (8 October). Partridge's refutation consists of the satirical sugges- tion that the real menace of the future con- sists of vacuum cleaners linked on the same household circuit. His letter is above aver- age from that fraternity.
In another letter in response to my arti- cle, Mr Robert Cahn suggests (15 October) that a single 'prehensile finger' turning off a switch is all that is necessary to counteract any putative future threat from artificial intelligence. The idea that one man's digit can turn off a huge electronic network linked to, and controlling, such aspects of human existence as power stations and hos- pitals, must be one of the more harmless eccentricities perpetrated in the august pages of The Spectator. All I can add is that Mr Cahn must possess a remarkable digit. Lack of space, rather than modesty, pre- vents me from suggesting what he should do with it.
Warwick Collins
23 Kingston Park, Lymington, Hants
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