To the extent,
then, that man fails to make the distinction between the
intermediate operations of electronic intelligence and the
ultimate responsibilities of human decision and conscience, the
computer could obscure man’s awareness of the need to come
to terms with himself. It may foster the illusion that he
is asking fundamental questions when actually he is asking only
functional ones. It may be regarded as a substitute for
intelligence instead of an extension of it. It may promote undue
confidence in concrete answers. “If we begin with
certainties,” Bacon said, “we shall end in doubts; but
if we begin with doubts, and we are patient with them, we shall
end in certainties.”