Mr. Spaceship

Mr. Spaceship, by Philip K. Dick, carries a note that a human brain-controlled spacecraft would mean mechanical perfection. A speaker says the human brain is the most agile of known living forms, and Kramer says they do not need the whole body, only the brain. A speaker says that these creatures are superior to any mechanical system, but only because they’re alive, and that if the yuks can put out living mines to protect their planets, we ought to be able to harness some of our own life-forms in a similar way.

A faint, faltering voice speaks to Kramer, saying "Everything so strange. I was right, though. Consciousness result of thinking." A speaker says he is taking the chance that war is something we’re so accustomed to that we don’t realize it is a very unnatural thing, and tells a listener "You and I are going to inspect a few systems off the beaten path."