"A Machine Is Not Influenced by Human Weaknesses"

"The Lying Lie-Detector."

By Leroy Yerxa (1915-46; ISFDb HERE; the yerxas.ca HERE).

Illustrated by Robert Fuqua (1905-59; ISFDb HERE).

First appearance: Amazing Stories, March 1945.

Novelette (17 pages).

Online at Roy Glashan's Library (HERE).

   "Here was mechanical justice! Decisions handed down by a machine that could not lie!"

HOW much do you trust, as a for-instance, your car? Would it ever, let's say, up and try to kill you? Or, conversely, would it ever act as your conscience and force you to do the right thing? In either case, wouldn't you have to assume that there's something going on in there that Detroit didn't anticipate, never mind include in the sales brochure? Technology such as the automobile, of course, is value-free and incapable of taking sides in an ethical situation, especially one involving guilt or innocence. In our story, however, people—but especially people in positions of authority—seem to ignore that obvious fact, blithely unaware of the weirdness that's actually going on—in there . . .

Principal characters:

~ Miss Salmon:

  "'You're a sucker,' she said bitterly. 'Making a fool of yourself over a pretty girl'."

~ Sue Fletcher:

  "I've been very worried about Sam. I'm the only one he can depend on. I'm very grateful for your interest."

~ Raymond Sand:

  "'Don't be grateful to me,' he said. 'I suspect a man of the murder whom I hate very cordially. I took a chance and went ahead with the investigation in spite of your refusal to retain me'."

~ Parrot French:

  "A rich guy is rubbed out and the case is so hot it burns the D.A.'s fingers, so you want me to get my fingers in it."

~ Inspector James Case:

  "'The case is closed,' he said. 'Fletcher will get a fair chance to tell the truth when he goes on 'Detecto' trial. If he's innocent . . .'"

~ Sam Fletcher:

  "The room was very quiet as he sat down. The prisoner was a slightly built, blond-headed boy, hardly over twenty-one. Perspiration stood out on his forehead and his hands clutched the arms of the chair tightly. This was the test he welcomed. He wondered how long it would be before it would all be over."

~ Ely Green:

  ". . . lay beside the chair, a thin, distinguished-looking man with some of his dignity disturbed by a long, bloody gash that ran along the right side of his neck, under the ear."

~ District Attorney Fred Mitchell:

  "'Say it the way you want to,' Mitchell said. 'I'm arresting you for the murder of Ely Green. There'll be no jury trial for you, Sand. I'm going to send you straight to Detecto. I'll get permission from the State to do it. You'll save the court time and money, Sand, and you'll burn beside Sam Fletcher, the other wise guy who tried to beat his rap'."

~ Professor Judson:

  "'Detecto was inspected by State Control men just before this trial,' he said. 'There is no chance that a mechanical error was made. Fifty cases have been tried on Detecto this year. All of them were faultlessly conducted'."

~ Detecto:

  "Men are stupid, foolish things."

References and resources:

- Is Detecto a "ghost in the machine"?

  "The 'ghost in the machine' is a term originally used to describe and critique the concept of the mind existing alongside and separate from the body. In more recent times, the term has several uses, including the concept that the intellectual part 

of the human mind is influenced by emotions; and within fiction, for an emergent consciousness residing in a computer." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- Our justice machine seems to share similar ambitions with another cybernetic control freak, this one from the movies. (WARNING! SPOILERS! Wikipedia HERE.)

- A similar situation, of whether machines can be better judges of guilt or innocence than humans, also comes up in Frank Riley's "The Cyber and Justice Holmes" (HERE).

- Most robots are basically perambulating computers, but is it possible that some day we can confidently say that "Robots Can't Lie," as per Robert Leslie Bellem's story (HERE)?

- A lie-detector figured prominently in Charles Phelps Cushing's "The Crime-Detector" (HERE; second story).

- Our latest meeting with Leroy Yerxa was his "The Story Escapes Me" (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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