What does "bright in easy ways" mean?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi everyone.

Once again I met an expression that is difficult for me to understand. What does “bright in easy ways” mean in the following context?

At all times, he had more than one escape route. Another advantage was his neighbors. Machines were always bright in easy ways, fountains of information if you knew how to employ them, but indifferent to the subtleties of organic life, if not out and out blind.

2

The original sentence sounds odd to me, but I think what they’re trying to say is that machines were always intelligent at things that were easy, or at figuring out easy methods of doing things, but that they didn’t understand more complex aspects of life.

3

Thank you very much, Amy.

4

This is Jamie. :smiley: