[2] The story was published just four years and nine months after the world's first electronic general-purpose computer, ENIAC, went on-line.
As far as the narrator is concerned, the reason EPICAC no longer exists is because it became more human than its designers originally intended.
In order to show that he can in fact be "sweet" and "poetic" as Pat has requested, the narrator tries yet fails at writing poetry.
However, instead of simply creating poetry as with previous requests, EPICAC surprises the narrator by saying that it would like to marry Pat.
Pat accepts his marriage proposal, but adds the stipulation that for every anniversary, the narrator must write her another poem.
Von Kleigstadt and a huge group of military men crowded around the remains of EPICAC.
EPICAC writes poetry for the narrator to give to his sweetheart Pat in order to woo her into marriage.