"Day and night I feverishly worked upon the machine, creating both a soul which could desire its goal, and a body with which it could realize it. Many who saw my creation called it an abomination, and denied me grant money. But they could not dissuade me from my impossible task. It was a spectre that tormented me always, a ghost I had to give a form and a life, lest it consume me from the inside. And when at last my task was done, when the grey box on wheels was complete and when it, as well as I, knew what had to be done, I felt deep sympathy for the machine. For I had not destroyed the phantom, but merely exorcized it into another body. The robot knew not why this task had to be performed, for I could not imbue it with knowledge I did not myself posess. And at the same time, I felt a sweeping sense of relief sweep over me, that somehow, the dream that had driven me for my entire life had come one step closer to fruition.
"As I vocally activated the robot, I realized that the it was following my instructions, but not out of any desire to obey me. Had I remained silent, it would have performed exactly the same operations. We were two beings controlled by the same force now. And yet, seeking vainly to hold some illusion of control over the machine I thought I had created, I gave my final command.
"`GO!' I told the box as it began to roll out of my workshop into the frozen desert beyond. `FIND KITTEN!'"
--The Book of Found Kittens, pages 43-4, author unknown
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