science

The Brain Center at Whipple's

The Brain Center at Whipple's is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Brain Center at Whipple's rather than just read about it. In short: "The Brain Center at Whipple's" is episode 153 of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on May 15, 1964, on CBS.

Key takeaways

The Brain Center at Whipple's belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Brain Center at Whipple's to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Brain Center at Whipple's from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"The Brain Center at Whipple's" is episode 153 of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on May 15, 1964, on CBS.

Opening narration These are the players—with or without a scorecard. In one corner a machine; in the other, one Wallace V. Whipple, man. And the game? It happens to be the historical battle between flesh and steel, between the brain of man and the product of man's brain. We don't make book on this one and predict no winner....but we can tell you for this particular contest, there is standing room only—in the Twilight Zone.

Plot In the future of 1967, Wallace V. Whipple, owner of a vast Midwestern manufacturing corporation, decides to upgrade his plant to increase profits by installing a machine named the "X109B14 modified transistorized totally automatic assembly machine", which leads to tens of thousands of layoffs. Some former employees try to convince him that the value of a man outweighs that of a machine, but their protests fall on deaf ears. His plant manager, Mr. Hanley, reminds him that Whipple's father, who ran the factory for 40 years, while profit-driven, had a sense of responsibility to his factory workers, and their pride in their work. Whipple coldly responds that while his father only "doubled" his factory production, his competitors quadrupled theirs. Dickerson, an angry veteran foreman, tries to smash the machine but is shot and injured by Whipple. While Hanley visits Dickerson in the hospital, Whipple is only concerned about his equipment. Hanley confronts Whipple about it and is summarily fired after being shown the machine replacing him. Whipple proceeds to replace secretaries with automated dictation machines, thinking that powder room breaks and maternity leave are inconveniences. Whipple eventually fires all his human employees after replacing them with machines, which then turn on him (perhaps only in his mind) by spitting out the harsh demeaning recorded parting words of his former employees back at him over and over, driving Whipple to insanity. Eventually, the board of directors find him neurotically obsessed with machines and retire him. Whipple joins Hanley at the bar opposite his factory and expresses deep sorrow at his misfortune as he rambles about how it is not fair that machines are replacing men, his poetic justice for caring more about machines in the first place. He also admits that he is lonely because he is not married and has no family and that he feels cast aside like a used part. The last scene reveals Whipple's replacement to be a robot (Robby the Robot), which swings Whipple's key on a chain the same way he used to.

Closing narration There are many bromides applicable here: 'too much of a good thing', 'tiger by the tail', 'as you sow so shall you reap'. The point is that, too often, Man becomes clever instead of becoming wise; he becomes inventive and not thoughtful; and sometimes, as in the case of Mr. Whipple, he can create himself right out of existence. As in tonight's tale of oddness and obsolescence, in the Twilight Zone.

Cast Richard Deacon as Wallace V. Whipple Paul Newlan as Walter Hanley Ted de Corsia as Dickerson Thalmus Rasulala (credited as Jack Crowder) as Technician Shawn Michaels as Bartender Burt Conroy as Watchman Robby the Robot as himself

Production notes The robot that ultimately replaces Mr. Whipple is "Robby the Robot" from the 1956 Sci-Fi film Forbidden Planet. "Robby" appeared in two other episodes of The Twilight Zone: "One for the Angels", the second episode of the series (as a miniature toy), and "Uncle Simon".

In popular culture Sludge metal band Melvins named a song on their album Hostile Ambient Takeover after the episode. The episode was parodied in the Futurama episode "Benderama". The name Whipple can be seen in various episodes of the third revival series.

References DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0 Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0 Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)

External links "The Brain Center at Whipple's" at IMDb

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Brain Center at Whipple's

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Brain Center at Whipple's claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Brain Center at Whipple's before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Brain Center at Whipple's ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Brain Center at Whipple's

In research: The Brain Center at Whipple's appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Brain Center at Whipple's in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Brain Center at Whipple's is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1964 American television episodes, Television episodes about termination of employment, Television episodes set in 1967, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Brain Center at Whipple's outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Brain Center at Whipple's in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Brain Center at Whipple's means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Brain Center at Whipple's out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Brain Center at Whipple's in simple terms?

"The Brain Center at Whipple's" is episode 153 of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on May 15, 1964, on CBS.

Why does The Brain Center at Whipple's matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Brain Center at Whipple's?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Brain Center at Whipple's.