
A Logic Named Joe by Will F. Jenkins (2012) - user_235711
http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/a-logic-named-joe-by-will-f-jenkins/
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dang
The story itself appears to be at
[http://www.baen.com/chapters/w200506/0743499107___2.htm](http://www.baen.com/chapters/w200506/0743499107___2.htm).

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jpt4
> And after all, if I get fed up with bein' old ... I could > hook Joe in long
> enough to ask: "How can a old guy not > stay old?" Joe'll be able to find
> out. An' he'll tell me.

Should anyone reading this have such an opportunity, for the sake of my
curiosity do not wait for senescence to ask this question.

> That couldn't be allowed out general, of course. You > gotta make room for
> kids to grow up. But it's a pretty > good world, now Joe's turned off. Maybe
> I'll turn him on > long enough to learn how to stay in it. But on the other
> hand, maybe—

How unfortunate for this story's universe that our salt of the Earth narrator
is so limited in his view of the potential scope of human flourishing. How
useful as a negative example for our universe.

~~~
stan_rogers
_Joe_ isn't about computers or networks; it's about _everybody_ owning a
monkey's paw[1]. The setting is a vaguely scifi, but the story would work as
well with garden-variety genies or some such - wish-granting entities that
aren't too concerned with the consequences of granting the wish, and wish-
makers who can't think through the easiest and most effective way of granting
a wish. (Try thinking about the usual three wishes, and try making them
bullet-proof/idiot-proof/watertight and only beneficial.)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey's_Paw](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey's_Paw)

