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Originally Posted by dwndrgn
*************SPOILERS*****************
So here's the thing. Lightyears away from Earth, Dave has just discovered that the supercomputer running his spaceship has gone haywire - it has actually killed the four other human members of the crew. He goes to attempt to fix this without disabling the computer altogether because it is what keeps the ships functions going. In order to do this he physically goes to the main unit and pulls out the 'logic circuits'. To me that seems completely impossible. You'd disable the whole thing if you didn't reprogram it to accept the missing components or bypass them or whatever, at least that is my feeling on it. I'm not a computer programmer or a hardwire expert so I could be way off base but it just doesn't seem right to me. |
I think the problem is basically one of being dated - electronic devices then were effectively physical objects all lumped together - you "reprogrammed" machines by pulling bits out. Of course, these days, you'd expect some degree of software rewriting - but in the mid-1960's I don't think that computer software as we have it now was particularly envisaged.
My impression, anyway.
Besides...if computers could only be as simple as that...
Perhaps there is also the presumption that the AI components of HAL were merely riding on top of the existing system and could be removed without affecting it.
And new thread for this topic.