AI (Artificial Intelligence) and robots are all the rage these days it seems, however there was a time not so long back when these were just ‘futuristic dreams’.
Everyone remembers the classic movie “The Terminator” from 1984, with its plotline based around a future where ‘artificial intelligence’ has taken over and decided that the human race needed to be wiped out, which it does using an army of killer robots.
Actually, a similar plot-line was used in an episode of the “Doctor Who” series, “The War Machines” from 1966, so pre-dates The Terminator by nearly two decades. In this story, the Doctor returns to London in 1966, and goes to investigate the Post Office Tower where he discovers a “revolutionary new computer” called WOTAN.
Described as being the most advanced computer of its era, WOTAN – short for Will Operating Thought ANalogue – was described by its creator Professor Brett as being at least ten years ahead of its time. Housed in the Post office Tower in London, it was intended that WOTAN would be linked up to, and subsequently take control of, other prominent computers in organisations all over the world – including Parliament, the White House, the Free Trade Association, Cape Kennedy and the Royal Navy, on a day designated ‘C-Day’. Highly intelligent, WOTAN was so brilliant that that it somehow even knew what ‘TARDIS’ stood for – possibly based on some records of the Doctor that existed at this time, and, according to Professor Brett, never made mistakes.
Unfortunately, like all forms of artificial intelligence that were allowed to grow too far (Such as VORACIA, creator of the Voracians), WOTAN eventually reached a point where it believed that humanity – and organic life in general – was inefficient, and the world would be a better place if WOTAN was in charge. To this end, WOTAN managed to brainwash various humans to obey it by transmitting some kind of signal over phone lines and broadcasting it to humans in its immediate vicinity, intending to use them to construct ‘War Machines’, which were essentially miniature tanks that would be used to enforce WOTAN’s will.
https://www.doctorwhoworlduk.com/wotan
Sounds a bit familar, eh?
There are probably other examples out there in sci-fi world, so it would seem there is a theme of AI / intelligent computers deciding that the world would be a better place without us humans.
There is one other ‘famous’ example, though not quite in the same vein, however it is interesting to note the design of the WOTAN computer from “The War Machines” (pictured above) with it’s central ‘eye’ lens.
Look familiar?
“2001: A Space Odyssey”, which followed two years after the Doctor Who serial “The War Machines” in 1968, created by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, introduced us to HAL 9000, the intelligent computer that controlled and operated the systems of the ‘Discovery’ spacecraft on its journey to Jupiter.
HAL malfunctions due to a conflict between him ‘being accurate and honest’ while following orders from mission control to keep the nature of the mission secret from the crew members. He decides to kill the crew, on the basis that he doesn’t then have to lie to them, and that he is perfectly capable of carrying out the mission without them.
Well, that’s nice. At least to be fair in this movie, the AI doesn’t want to wipe out the whole of humankind, but it does see it’s human crew as needing to be ‘disposed of’ in order to protect it’s ‘mission’.
And now here in 2022, we have companies who already have ‘super-computers’ operational that utilise artificial intelligence, and AI is finding its way into many facets of our lives.
What could possibly go wrong?
Here’s a tip for people building super-intelligent computers that could become ‘self-aware’ and decide to kill us all off: make sure the on/off power switch is easily accessible!
