«Спонтанный рефлекс» — рассказ, написанный Аркадием и Борисом Стругацкими в 1958 году. Действие рассказа можно косвенно перевести в плоскость Мира Полудня. По заказу «Управления межпланетных сообщений» создается Универсальная Рабочая Машина — Урм, экспериментальный образец, проходящий испытания в районе атомной электростанции. Урм, в некотором смысле, обладает искусственным интеллектом, так как к нему проявлялись определенные требования, и программист по фамилии Пискунов постарался учесть их в своей работе.
The brothers Arkady Strugatsky [Russian: Аркадий Стругацкий] and Boris Strugatsky [Russian: Борис Стругацкий] were Soviet-Russian science fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers.
Arkady Strugatsky was born 25 August 1925 in Batumi; the family later moved to Leningrad. In January 1942, Arkady and his father were evacuated from the Siege of Leningrad, but Arkady was the only survivor in his train car; his father died upon reaching Vologda. Arkady was drafted into the Soviet army in 1943. He trained first at the artillery school in Aktyubinsk and later at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, from which he graduated in 1949 as an interpreter of English and Japanese. He worked as a teacher and interpreter for the military until 1955. In 1955, he began working as an editor and writer.
In 1958, he began collaborating with his brother Boris, a collaboration that lasted until Arkady's death on 12 October 1991. Arkady Strugatsky became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers in 1964. In addition to his own writing, he translated Japanese language short stories and novels, as well as some English works with his brother.
A nicely wrapped short and sweet Atomic Age classic about a robot discovering itself and its environment. A cautionary tale about Artificial Intelligence as people would say nowadays :P