broehl@watdcsu.UUCP (Bernie Roehl) (11/06/85)
In article <19200047@uiucdcs> place@uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU writes: >next thing I know they're calling the parents telling them their >son failed the test and was destroyed/terminated/whatever. ^^^^^^ no, the point of the episode is that he *passed*. His IQ exceeded the government-specified norm, and the call was to find out if his parents wanted his body interred by the state, or if they would prefer a private burial. Granted, the ending was predictable way ahead of time (his parents were worried that their son liked to read so much, plus a few other clues) but I thought it was a good episode nevertheless. A little chilling for those of us who score high on those tests. > >Denise >University of Illinois >The Super Computing Illini
mcewan@uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU (11/12/85)
>>next thing I know they're calling the parents telling them their >>son failed the test and was destroyed/terminated/whatever. > ^^^^^^ >no, the point of the episode is that he *passed*. His IQ exceeded the >government-specified norm, and the call was to find out if his parents >wanted his body interred by the state, or if they would prefer a private >burial. Just to nitpick, I disagree. He *failed* the test by getting too high a score. Think of it as a test for stupidity - you fail by not being stupid enough. Was anyone surprised by the ending? I though it was so incredibly obvious that I don't understand why the kid didn't figure it out (not that it would have done him any good - the drug would have prevented him from playing dumb). Scott McEwan {ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!mcewan "A flash in front of my eyes ... I blink ... open my eyes to ... discover I am a dog in a pickup truck full of garbage ... no one but me sees the lid blow off the can ... it's 14 miles to the dump ... this is ... at last ... heaven."