The 'Answer' by Fredric Brown - a short story from 1954 on the peril of AI.
https://www.bustle.com/p/this-one-page-fredric-brown-story-from-1950-is-basically-a-way-more-disturbing-version-of-black-mirror-7928810 (https://www.bustle.com/p/this-one-page-fredric-brown-story-from-1950-is-basically-a-way-more-disturbing-version-of-black-mirror-7928810)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric_Brown (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric_Brown)
Thanks mate. I've read a few of his stories and know him, but even I had forgotten him! Quaint as he may sound now, his ideas were indeed great at times - and their constant use thereafter if what actually makes him sound quaint.
Indeed,
A little like Philip K. Dick - his ideas have been recycled and modified over decades till they become echoes of the original.
PKD is my favourite author bar none. I'll disagree that he's become so, however. True, quite a few movies have come out during the past years that echo his ideas, but he was a much better writer (when he wanted) than Brown so he's still immensely readable. Only my opinion, of course :)
Yes, Dick has a special place in the pantheon of great sci-fi authors.
After a decade of reading conventional (Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein etc) science fiction, about 1985, someone at college loaned me "A Scanner Darkly" - reading it made me feel I'd taken the drugs mentioned in the novel :o
After that I made a point of looking for everything else that he had published.
I've got all his books and stories, and indeed each one is a trip :D Ubik is actually the only book that has caused me physical discomfort while reading it
the scene where he tries to climb up the stairs...
. A Scanner Darkly was really, really intense and sad, especially if you read his introduction.
The Man in the High Castle is probably among my three all-time favourite books (the TV series is great, but has little connection to the book, as everything Dick that has been put to film). Dick had the gift of having great ideas and being able to craft a good story around them. Contrast him to Clarke - don't get me wrong, I love Clarke, but he's only as good as his big ideas. His writing is mediocre at best. I think Clarke gets more credit than he deserves - he rode the zeitgeist of his era, basically.
Heinlein is really great though...
PS the second all-time favourite book is The Third Policeman, by Irish writer Brian O'Nolan. It just blew my mind! Can't decide about the third though :D