The important thing being that you can ask it new and novel questions. it sounds in fact something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_ratiocinator http:

The important thing being that you can ask it new and novel questions. it sounds in fact something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_ratiocinator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_ratiocinator as interpreted in The Baroque Cycle