They'd Rather Be Right

A pair of scientists at a Californian university build a cybernetic brain of unprecedented sophistication and give it a nickname, Bossy, and the public reaction is what public reactions to such things have always been. The mob comes. What survives the wreck is carried away by Joe Carter, a young man who has concealed all his life the fact that he can read minds, and who understands better than anyone what Bossy is for. Rebuilt and running, the machine can restore a human body to youth and health, but the treatment works only on a mind willing to relinquish every conviction it holds as certain. That proves the insurmountable barrier. Offered immortality at the price of admitting they might be wrong, people would rather keep the opinions. Clifton and Riley's novel, later reissued as The Forever Machine, is a product of the psi-obsessed Astounding of its era and reads as such: talky, argumentative and impatient with human stubbornness. It holds a permanent place in the record as the first sequel-generating Hugo winner for best novel, and remains among the most contested selections the award has ever made.