How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
"Yes, an electronic brain," said Frankie, "a simple one would suffice."
"A simple one!" wailed Arthur.
"Yeah," said Zaphod with a sudden evil grin, "you'd just have to program it to say What? And I don't understand and Where's the tea?—who'd know the difference?"
"What?" cried Arthur, backing away still further.
"See what I mean?" said Zaphod and howled with pain because of something that Trillian did at that moment. (31.87-91)
The mice are generously offering to replace Arthur's brain with an electronic brain and some money. This is clearly not a good idea, as we can see with Zaphod's "sudden evil grin" and the fact that Trillian is against this idea. (Trillian may not get to shine as a scientist here, but she's a better moral guide than Zaphod.) But notice how Adams plays with Arthur's reactions, making his responses simple: he repeats what Frankie says and says "What?" just as Zaphod predicted. However, since Arthur is our touchstone character, the idea of practicing mad science on him surely shows some downside to science. We don't care if Earth seems unimportant; that's no reason to dice our brains.