Can Your PC Become Neurotic?

Roland Piquepaille writes "This article starts with a quote from Douglas Adams: 'The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.' It is true that machines are becoming more complex and 'intelligent' everyday. Does this mean that they can exhibit unpredictable behavior like HAL, the supercomputer in '2001: A Space Odyssey'? Do we have to fear our PCs? A recent book by Thomas M. Georges, 'Digital Soul: Intelligent Machines and Human Values,' explains how our machines can develop neurosis and what kind of therapy exist. Check this column for a summary or read this highly recommended article from Darwin Magazine for more details."

Comments

HAL's "Unpredictable Behavior"

[SecretAsianMan]

The poster wrote:

Does this mean that they can exhibit unpredictable behavior like HAL, the supercomputer in '2001: A Space Odyssey'?

HAL's behavior in the movie 2001 was not unpredictable or random. It was a result of the conflicting orders HAL was given. HAL's basic programming instructed him to be as open and accurate as possible when reporting information. Some PHBs then gave him the order to not disclose some aspects of the mission to the humans on board the Discovery. HAL accomplished both objectives by removing the humans. Apparently, there was no directive in his base programming that told him killing people was bad.

So it is all completely logical, which is not a small feat for a Hollywood production...

Self-Healing computer

[linus_vp]

IBM doesn't claim to cure neurosis with it's AIX LPARS, but it does have much to offer with curing ailing CPUs, memory, and IP based network cards. See the article IBM Self-Healing AIX OS and pSeries Hardware