Slashdot Mirror
WarGames and the Great Hacking Scare of 1983
James W writes "Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the release of WarGames and Christopher Knight has written a retrospective about the film and its impact on popular culture. In addition to discussing how the movie has held up over time, WarGames was responsible for what Knight calls the Great Hacking Scare of 1983. Some examples mentioned are 'one CBS Evening News report at the time that seriously questioned whether parents should allow their children to access the outside world via their personal computers at home. A magazine article suggested that computer modems be 'locked up' just like firearms, to keep them out of the reach of teenagers. I even heard one pundit proclaim that there was no need for regular people to be able to log in to a remote system: that if you need to access your bank account, a friendly teller was just a short drive away. And Bill Gates once declared that the average person would never have a need for more than 640 kilobytes of memory in a personal computer, too.'" 2008 is also 25 years after the real-life prevention of a WarGames-style nuclear incident.
That's the funny part about it. Gore's statement can't be anything but a gross exaggeration of his accomplishments, EVEN in the full context of what he said. He would have been better off saying, "I was a lead proponent on using the Internet to its fullest potential" or "I lead the charge in getting Government to use the Internet". I suppose Hilary Clinton's recollection of dodging sniper-fire is also protected by people "intentionally distorting someones (sic) statement"? It's a pattern of narcissism that most people in power portray...not just the two liberal people in this post.
I honestly don't doubt that there were so many other people involved that we'd not see any difference had Gore not been born. Gore is a late-comer to the Internet; his "initiative in creating" it was hot air and self-agrandizement from a pol seeking votes from geeks. He did nothing to create Slashdot.
Gore took credit for all the work done by hundreds, if not thousands, of engineers with that self-serving statement. If he had said something like "I took the initiative in funding the Internet in its earliest form", or even "I took the initiative in Congress to work with some brilliant minds in creating the Internet", no one would've been insulted or offended. But he didn't, and that's one of the reasons he's not President today.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
On the other hand, Gore DID take the initiative in creating global warming hysteria (well, at least "hysteria" in the main stream media's mind). I think he deserves credit for that.
So when Bush says he "took the initiative in removing Saddam Hussein from power" (don't think he's ever put it like that, just using a theoretical example), do you think he's not taking credit for it? Despite the fact that he didn't come up with the battle plan, didn't fight, and wasn't present when Saddam was captured?
Bush gave the orders.
Gore took credit for all the work done by hundreds, if not thousands, of engineers with that self-serving statement.
While Gore didn't go far enough, he supported D/ARPA's creation of arpanet/milnet, he didn't take all credit.
that's one of the reasons he's not President today.
The Reason Gore didn't win in 200 was because then Florida Secretary of State, who was in charge of elections there, Katherine Harris was also Bush's FL campaign manager and did what she could to make sure Bush won.
FalconShould there be a Law?