On Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:53:57 -0500, flipper wrote:

On Mon, 23 Aug 2010 03:23:58 -0700,
wrote:

On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:29:46 -0500, flipper wrote:

On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:28:36 -0700, Jim Thompson
wrote:

On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:13:09 -0500, flipper wrote:

On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:07:20 -0500, Dan wrote:

flipper wrote:
snip

I imagine IBM didn't think that kind of mythology fit the 'IBM
culture'. Plus, their 'not computer savvy' customers probably didn't
want 'crazy computer brains' taking over their companies, or the whole
country. And don't tell me it can't happen because I saw Colossus: The
Forbin Project (1970) and one of those damn things drive Wally Cox
crazy in a Twilight Zone episode (From Agnes - with Love [1964])

I liked "Colossus, The Forbin Project" when it came out.

Yeah, me too. Although, I knew it "was over" about 5 minutes into the
thing when they caved to the first challenge.

Then I
started analyzing it and figured out numerous was to sabotage the
system. The funny thing is at that time neither computer would have
operated very long without repair.

Well, we could propose a number of theories to get around that but
trying to get movies or TV 'scientifically accurate' is worse than
pushing a wet noodle uphill. That just isn't 'the direction' they're
interested in going.

Of course, the biggest flaw in most of them is no one in their right
mind would make a computer/robot with NO freaking OFF switch.

They at least got that part sort of right with Star Trek's M5. There
was *supposed* to be an 'off switch' but the loony computer 'protected
itself'. An obvious design flaw

Kind of fun watching Kirk out psych it, though.

I did greatly enjoy the series' multiple forays into 'logic' but if
*I* were Nomad Kirk would have lost the debate.

One of my favorites was a meaningless byline to the plot in Star Trek,
the original series, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" (1967) where the computer
keeps calling Kirk "dear." As Spock explained, the computer system had
been 'repaired' on a planet dominated by women and they felt it lacked
a 'personality'. So they gave it one. Female, of course.

It also has an unfortunate tendency to giggle.

I prefer the voice of HAL.

Oh, yes. I loved HAL.

"Look, Dave, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly
think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think
things over."

At least he didn't have the chugga-chugga
sounds every time he had to process something.

Hehe. Yeah, well, it was 1967. The 'computer' needed to sound like a
'machine', or so they thought. That's still the era where you know
you're getting 'timely news' because they have TTYs going clackety
clackety in the background.

Star Trek is certainly dated but I remember thinking, at the time,
that the beeps and blips the control buttons, communicator, etc, made
was a stroke of genius, while my parents thought it was down right
silly.

Of course, just about everything 'beeps' these days.

The Colossus voice was
downright creepy.

I don't really remember it.


Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

Playing on local talk radio right now:

Talk radio? Interesting place to put it.


We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and
incapable of error... error... error... error... error... error...
error... error...

The HAL 9000 series were not known for an abundance of modesty

There's a really good Isaac Asimov 'robot' short story, Little Lost
Robot, that kicks off with a similar problem: a 1'st law 'modified'
robot that's arrogant as hell. And after royally ****ing off an
engineer that's had a bad day the engineer tells him to get lost,
which the robot does (2'nd law).

The rest of the story is trying to find the (not entirely stable)
'lost' robot and ends with a 'logic' contest between Susan Calvin,
robo-psychologist, and the robot.

Wait a minute, wasn't it Blake and partner that did the
troubleshooting?

Penton and Blake were characters by John Campbell.

Part of the original collection of shorts in the book "I, Robot".

You may be thinking of Powell and Donovan in Runaround, which is in
the I, Robot collection.

Interesting that you mention that collection because Asimov wrote a
framing sequence for it presenting the stories as Dr. Susan Calvin's
reminiscences about her life's work.

Little lost Robot, that I referenced, is in that collection too. I
also have, or had, "The Rest of the Robots." I say have or had because
I used to loan them out but none ever returned so I stopped doing that
and I don't remember if the last time I bought it was before or after
I quit.

I think i have a complete set with a few spares. I quickly switched
to buying another (used) copy (or three) for a loaning out; they so
often never came back and were forgotten.

Actually, they're all good and Isaac Asimov's robot series is my all
time favorite science fiction.

I can see your point, even (especially) when he crossed it with his
foundation series. Which is of the same stature.

Well, I may be biased because I've always been interested in computers
*and* A.I., not to mention logic, so they naturally tickle all three
of my funny bones.