Human Error

by Raymond F. Jones

In the near future from a 1950’s perspective, the first space station, in orbit around the Earth, gets knocked out of orbit due to pilot miscalculation. The subsequent disaster, with shuttle and space station crash landing near San Francisco, creates a public furor calling for the end of the space program. General Oglethorpe, the earth side base commander in charge of the space program, recruits Dr. Paul Medick, an expert in psychology and psychometrics, to head a new to eliminate human error. Oglethorpe is certain that men can be made to be more mechanical, operating with the same reliability of the machines which they operate. The government had spent one billion dollars to convince the human race that men ought to be ashamed to be men—instead of being cybernetic machines incapable of miscalculation.. But they did not consider that an error less man is a dead man. A fast-paced pulp classic which originally appeared in the April 1956 issue of If Worlds of Science Fiction.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

62 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2010

About the author

Raymond Fisher Jones (November 15, 1915, Salt Lake City, Utah - January 24, 1994, Sandy, Salt Lake County, Utah) was an American science fiction author. He is best known for his 1952 novel, This Island Earth, which was adapted into the 1955 film This Island Earth and for the short story "The Children's Room", which was adapted for television as Episode Two of the ABC network show Tales of Tomorrow, first aired on February 29, 1952.

Jones' career was at its peak during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. His stories were published mainly in magazines such as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, and Galaxy. His short story Noise Level is known as one of his best works. His short story "The Alien Machine", first published in the June, 1949 Thrilling Wonder Stories, was later expanded into the novel This Island Earth, along with two other short stories, "The Shroud of Secrecy", and "The Greater Conflict", known as The Peace Engineers Trilogy, featuring the character Cal Meacham. Jones also wrote the story upon which the episode "The Children's Room" was based for the television program Tales of Tomorrow in 1952.

Reviews

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is quite a great read and makes an interesting theory on the subject it is based on - I'm shocked it has only two ratings on goodreads

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still relevant considering the struggle of contemporary neuroscience to reconcile the rational part of our brain, strictly responding to stimuli and the need for emotional components in our decision making.

An excellent example of true sci-fi, speculating on the basic makeup of humanity and its potential as it is exposed to new situations and an expanding universe.

The story meditates on the essence of human nature, the consequences of iron discipline and the ambition to eliminate human error and fallibility. In the end the story reaffirms the validity of cherished human traits such as creativity and individuality as an essential part of human nature.