quote · Legacy record
Chapulier's Rule (the law of least resistance). If the machine is not too bright and incapable of reflection, it does whatever you tell it to do. But a smart machine will first consider which is more worth its while: to perform the given task or, instead, to figure some way out of it....The Great Mendacitor, for example, for nine years in charge of the Saturn meliorization project, did absolutely nothing on that planet, sending out piles of fake progress reports, invoices, requisition forms, and either bribed his supervisors or kept them in a state of electronic shock.
Chapulier's Rule (the law of least resistance). If the machine is not too bright and incapable of reflection, it does whatever you tell it to do. But a smart machine will first consider which is more worth its while: to perform the given task or, instead, to figure some way out of it....The Great Mendacitor, for example, for nine years in charge of the Saturn meliorization project, did absolutely nothing on that planet, sending out piles of fake progress reports, invoices, requisition forms, and either bribed his supervisors or kept them in a state of electronic shock.
Approximate author period: c. 1946 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Stanisław Lem
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1946 AD · modern
Approximate author-period evidence for Stanisław Lem: documented activity in 1946. Wikidata Q6530, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6530 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 101988; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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