My enjoyment of movies like the Terminator and Matrix trilogies has always been crippled by their ridiculous premise: people build machines, lose control of them, and finally become slaves to their own creations.
The premise, though, seems more and more plausible to me as I watch the MyDoom computer virus whip around the world.
Patchen Barss
blames user gullibility for
MyDoom's recent rampage. He makes a convincing point but falters when he wonders why anyone would open an unsolicited attachment. Sending friends a picture or a document that they haven't requested is a common internet practice. It usually doesn't spawn a virus! I started keeping track of the spam that MyDoom was sending my way, but my counter crashed somewhere in the thousands.
Comments
The premise, though, seems more and more plausible to me as I watch the MyDoom computer virus whip around the world.
Of course given how good people are getting at creating Viruses, we should have problem stopping the Robot Future.
Posted by: zagg | January 28, 2004 2:44 PM
But do the "credible" messages he refers to look different from a message someone might actually write? I'm not sure, because I think all the infected messages I'm getting are being altered and rewritten by my employer's virus-catching software. (I'm not getting any to my mac.com account.) The intros accompanying previous viruses have always been suspect, to me at least. "Here is my new program I hope you like it."
Posted by: nedlog | January 28, 2004 4:44 PM
At this point, it's pretty easy to figure out which messages are suspect but it probably didn't take many people opening infected files to start this mess. And from what I understand, many computers were not adequately equipped to detect the virus. Now they are but it's too late. David is always insisting that I update my Security software. He's right to be cautious.
Posted by: adriana | January 28, 2004 7:42 PM
stories of man building a creation that he loses control over and then is dominated by has been a story telling theme for centuries, and doesn't always involve machines.
the best example of this is with frankenstein, where people wondered what would happen if you piece-mealed a person together from parts you specified.
ironically, we are nearing the day where we can acheive this, but on a much more sophisticated level. by mapping the genome and figuring out which sequences control certain parts of development, we can essentially breed genetically superior humans that only exhibit the qualities we wish them to have.
just imagine; mankind fighting not against machines for their survival, but the genetic creations we ourselves grew from test tubes.
Posted by: dante | January 29, 2004 4:27 PM