473 – Doomwatch – The Logicians

Teaching and computers.  An amoral match made in hell? Simon and Eugene discuss the Logicians. Episode Synopsis: It’s a jolly lovely summer’s day at the Elsdene School and the boys are preparing for a field trip to a pharmaceutical company after spending the night planning a heist.  The boys seem a bit full of themselves but their teacher reminds them that people respect cleverness, but they don’t like prigs. Later, at that pharmaceutical company, Ridge and Chantry are conferring with Mr. Prietland, director of the facility, about a new drug, K.27, that Doomwatch are evaluating.  They [expand title=”More…” swaptitle=”Less” tag=”strong”] will take a sample of the drug back to Doomwatch for evaluation and return it tomorrow.  While they’re there, the first of two groups of schoolboys start their tour, and with a distraction, they conceal one of their members in a ventilation duct. That night, he exits the duct, uses a high-tech gizmo on the safe and steals the formula for K.27, returning to the duct to await retrieval the next day by the second group of boys visiting the facility. Ridge and Hardcastle arrive the next day to find the police there investigating the theft of the formula.  They are treating everyone that was in the building yesterday as a suspect, including Ridge.  And when I say “everyone” I mean everyone – except the field trip of school boys, since the son of the director attends that school. Ridge notices something suspicious in the director’s office, but he doesn’t mention it to the police, instead, he and Hardcastle visit the school, where they see the children being trained in symbolic logic by a computer to work through problem-solving exercises.  Ridge is apparently appalled at the amoral lessons and takes his concerns to Quist, who, upon learning that the visionary educator who setup the school died and passed control to his wife, gets a bit concerned, too. Meanwhile, due to the crime, the second field trip was cancelled, leaving the infiltrator trapped in the air duct, potentially for several days.  This; however, is not a problem, the students logical plan has allowed for this contingency.  They have worked out a system to smuggle food into the facility (and presumably smuggle out human waste) to keep the trapped infiltrator alive until the plan is complete. Quist visits the school and becomes more concerned that having computerized teaching machines doesn’t provide the students with the moral training that they need.  Logic without emotion combined with receptive minds without ethical guidance is a terrifying prospect. He also learns that the school is dangerously close to closing due to lack of funding.  No slouches themselves at Doomwatch, they realize that the students have stolen the formula to extort money from the Prietland’s company for the return of the formula so that they can fund the school. Soon, the ransom call comes in, and Prietland’s company authorizes the payoff.  Hardcastle plants a tracking bug in the briefcase, and the money is thrown off a train, where the students collect it.  They scan the briefcase for a bug and find it, taking the money and sending the briefcase on a wild goose chase. Having received the money, the infiltrator comes out of the duct, places the documents back on Prietland’s desk, and escapes by breaking a window and running away. Quist and Ridge confront Prietland with their suspicions and he admits, not only had he figured it out when Ridge did, but he son basically confessed to him when he begged for an alibi… and he’s OK with that, because the company can afford it. Quist urges him to turn his son in, but he refuses.  Then Quist drops the bombshell.  His son planted the briefcase at Prietland’s home, setting this father up as the fall guy for the crime if it went wrong.  Only by calling the police and turning his son in will he be able to prevent that from working to discredit him.  He makes the call. But, Prietland sees the bright side:  His son is a minor, so the school will be responsible for the consequences and what an amazing businessman his son is going to make when he grows up!   Quist and Ridge can only frown in despondent agreement. [/expand]