And of course the whole point of Colossus, Dr Strangelove, War Games, Terminator, Forbidden Planet, Battlestar Galactica, etc. was to try to make it clear to all the non-engineers and non-programmers (all of whom greatly outnumber us) why putting lethal force in the hands of any autonomous or even semi-autonomous machine is something with incredible potential to go wrong. We all know that even if the hardware doesn't fail, which it inevitably will, that all software above a certain level of complexity is guaranteed to have bugs with unknown consequences. There is another equally cautionary genre in sci-fi about society becoming so dependent on machines as to lose the knowledge to understand and maintain the machines, resulting in total collapse when the machines inevitably fail. I still remember my oldest sister reading E.M. Forster, "The Machine Stops" (1909), to me when I was very young. Various Star Trek episodes used both of these themes as plots. People can also break down with lethal side effects, but the potential damage one person can create is more easily contained by other people. The only effective way to defend again a berserk lethal machine may be with another lethal machine, and Colossus-Guardian suggests why that may be an even worse idea. Joel C Ewing
On 5/11/20 4:54 AM, Seymour J Metz wrote: > Strangelove was twisted because the times were twisted. We're ripe for a > similar parody on our own times. > > > -- > Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > > ________________________________________ > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of > Farley, Peter x23353 [peter.far...@broadridge.com] > Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2020 11:39 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: Re: Developers say Google's Go is 'most sought after' programming > language of 2020 > > For relatively recent fare, I agree 100% - "Person of Interest" leads the > pack. My favorite oldie -- "Let's play Global Thermonuclear War . . . " (War > Games), right after Dr. Strangelove of course, simply because it was so > twisted. > > Mutual Assured Destruction indeed. Is SkyNet far away? > > Peter > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of > Bob Bridges > Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2020 10:21 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: Re: Developers say Google's Go is 'most sought after' programming > language of 2020 > > I've always loved "Colossus: The Forbin Project". Not many people have seen > it, as far as I can tell. > > The only problem I have with that movie - well, the main problem - is that no > programmer in the world would make such a system and then throw away the Stop > button. No engineer would do that with a machine he built, either. Too many > things can go wrong. > > But a fun movie, if you can ignore that. > > --- > Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 > > /* The only thing UFO aliens deserve is to be ignored...and when we finally > develop the right missiles, to have their smug, silvery little butts shot > down. Not a single reported UFO sighting -- if true! -- describes the > behavior of decent, polite, honorable visitors to our world. -David Brin in > a 1998 on-line interview */ > > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On > Behalf Of scott Ford > Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2020 11:38 > > Like the 1970s flick , ‘Colossus , The Forbin Project’, > > Colossus and American computer and Guardian a Russian computer take over > saying ‘ Colossus and Guardian we are one’, or better yet My favorite show, > ‘Person of Interest’..... > -- > > This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the > addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If > the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized > representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have > received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail > and delete the message and any attachments from your system. > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN -- Joel C. Ewing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
