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Published: Aug. 27, 2019, 8:45 a.m.

Weirdly prescient and quietly influential \n\n

AI portrayal in film. Recognizing 2001: A Space Odyssey. Command and control. Unintended consequences. Personal movie connections and impact decades before Bostrom\u2019s Superintelligence. Game of Thrones??? 70s scifi cynicism.

\n\n Benevolent AI dictator \n\n

The Cold War and looming climate catastrophe. What are Colossus\u2019 goals? What goals does it think it has?

\n\n AI Portrayal \n\n

Period conceptions of computing as centralized and institutional. Computing in the era of the first moon landing. The \u201cbig board.\u201d Computer scientists a la Mad Men. Colossus as a Golem story. How to take over the world with no subterfuge or tact. Gendering AI.

\n\n Realism \n\n

Portrayal of telecommunications literally before the invention of networking. Packet switching was first implemented after the novel was written and only just before the film! Computer communication syntax. Computing language. Computer interfaces and code checking.

\n\n Getting weird \n\n

The books get weird. And weirder! How sometimes books are accidentally way better than their author is capable of.

\n\n Paperclip maximization \n\n

Colossus as utilitarian \u201cpeace maximizer.\u201d Showing the monkeys the gun to get your point across.

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1. \n\t\t\t\tWorks by Madeline Ashby: Amazon\n\t\t\t
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2. \n\t\t\t\tPerson of Interest: iTunesAmazonNetflix\n\t\t\t
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