Interestingly, the Whipple story takes place all the time in the business world today, pitting as it does the 'brain of Man against the product of Man's brain'. It's true that progress sometimes has a de-humanizing effect, but there's often a flip side too - creating new opportunities for the ones who are initially blindsided and lose their jobs. Stories like this often don't follow through on what might happen if modern methods are ignored and the status quo remains the same. Eventually everyone's job is lost when the company goes up against a more efficient competitor. How humane is that result?
Rod Serling obviously saw something in the future of mechanization and the advance of computers. In a prior Season Five episode, 'The Old Man in the Cave', a room sized computer was also at the center of the story with the ability to think for a small group surviving a future nuclear war. I wonder how amazed he might be today to find the same amount of 'brain power' compact enough to hold in one's hand. That's quite the exponential progress we've made in less than fifty years.
Those old enough to remember the era will also recall the ubiquitous presence of a character named Mr. Whipple in those Charmin toilet tissue commercials that began running about the same time as this TZ entry. As I think about them now, I have to wonder if one of the Whipple characters might have been borrowed from the other. Most likely not, Richard Deacon never gives the impression that he's squeezably soft.
Rod Serling obviously saw something in the future of mechanization and the advance of computers. In a prior Season Five episode, 'The Old Man in the Cave', a room sized computer was also at the center of the story with the ability to think for a small group surviving a future nuclear war. I wonder how amazed he might be today to find the same amount of 'brain power' compact enough to hold in one's hand. That's quite the exponential progress we've made in less than fifty years.
Those old enough to remember the era will also recall the ubiquitous presence of a character named Mr. Whipple in those Charmin toilet tissue commercials that began running about the same time as this TZ entry. As I think about them now, I have to wonder if one of the Whipple characters might have been borrowed from the other. Most likely not, Richard Deacon never gives the impression that he's squeezably soft.