e War“The Machine That Won the War,” by Isaac Asimov, is a story thatteaches a valuable lesson about humanity and also has an ironic twist at theend.
The setting is the future of Earth, and a great war had just been wonagainst an enemy race. Two men, Swift and Henderson, are debating overwho really won the war for Earth: the giant strategy computer known asMultivac, or the men in charge of making the maneuvers and programmingthe computer. John Henderson is an excitable man, while Lamar Swift, themilitary captain, is calm but rational. While the people hailed the computer,the two really knew who the heroes were.
Henderson explained the fact that Multivac was nothing more than alarge machine, only capable of doing what it was programmed to do. Hestated that ever since the beginning of the war, he had been hiding a secret. Itwas the fact that some of its (Multivac’s) data might have been unreliable.
This conflict, as you will note later, helped win the war. The great computer was capable of creating a direct battle plan whichEarth forces could use to attack their enemies. However, with Hendersoninputting faulty data, this caused some of the battle plans to be unreliable. Hisinternal conflict between himself losing his job and wanting to keep it madehim jingle with the programming until it seemed right.
This foreshadowing helps the reader to see that someone is going tohave to act upon Henderson’s faults if the war is to be won. Swift, themilitary commander, received these battle plans that Henderson had ‘printedup’ out on the front (the front being the battle front).
He, realizing that some of these plans were outrageous, had to act upona different form of machine. Swift’s motivation for not always acting uponwhat was laid before him helped change the course of the war. He toldHenderson that when faced with the difficult decisions, he didn’t useMultivac’s data all of the time. This conflict, making these tough decisions,helps influence the climax. The climax of the story comes when Swift tellsHenderson he used a coin to make all of the though decisions instead ofMultivac’s data. This use of ‘situation irony’ shows us that in the worstimaginable scenario, the outcome is actually made so simply. The lesson Ifound in this story is to not always trust what you see before you, and thathuman beings will forever take chances even in the riskiest of situations. In conclusion,”The Machine That Won the War,” taught us all a valuablelesson about how humans think, and contained a humorous, ironic endingwhich stunned (or should have stunned) everyone. English Essays
