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The Trouble with Gerrold: The 50 most memorable computers (and robots) in science fiction, part two


By David Gerrold


 David Gerrold
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July 20, 2012 —  (Page 5 of 5)

VIKI. The supercomputer artificial intelligence in the 2004 movie “I, Robot,” starring Will Smith, and (allegedly) based on the works of Isaac Asimov. VIKI has apparently decided that in order to protect humanity as a whole, some humans must be sacrificed. Will Smith is the cop who is tasked with pulling the plug. (Doesn’t anybody ever stop to ask, “Is it really a good idea to give a machine that much power and authority?”)

GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System). The Intelligence Engine at the Aperture Science Enrichment Center in the 2007 game Portal. GLaDOS kills everyone in the Center, then lies about the existence of cake.

Auto. The autopilot of the starship Axiom in the 2008 movie “WALL-E.” Voiced by Sigourney Weaver, the star of the “Alien” movies, this was her opportunity to finally get to be “Mother” (see the top of this list).

JARVIS (Just A Really Very Intelligent System). Tony Stark’s personal A.I. in the 2008 movie “Iron Man.” JARVIS runs the internal systems of Tony Stark's home. He talks to Stark with considerable sophistication, even to the point of sarcastic observations on Stark’s recklessness. Peter David created the acronym for JARVIS in his novelization of the film.

GERTY 3000. From the 2009 film “Moon.” A single astronaut runs a lunar mining station with the help of an exquisitely polite computer voiced by Kevin Spacey. The art direction looks like leftovers from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and Gerty sounds a lot like HAL 9000. Like HAL, Gerty cannot be trusted. But despite the obvious echoes of the Kubrick film, the script is a lot closer to the work of Philip K. Dick.

Ten years from now, we’ll probably have to add another 25 computers and robots to this list. I can hardly wait.

David Gerrold is the author of over 50 books, several hundred articles and columns, and over a dozen television episodes, including the famous "Star Trek" episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles." He is also an authority on computer software and programming, and takes a broad view of the evolution of advanced technologies. Readers may remember Gerrold from the Computer Language Magazine forum on CompuServe, where he was a frequent and prolific contributor in the 1990s.


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Comments


07/28/2012 05:29:06 PM EST

Hey, I enjoyed the list. I think I've encountered almost every one of those AIs. If you get a chance, check out Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers. The AI at the center of the book, Helen, is built from the ground up in a series of generations. The idea is that she will compete against a human graduate student in a university's comprehensive graduate literature exam, and judges will try to pick which bluebook came from the human and which from the computer -- quite a specialized Turing test. The book is heartbreakingly beautiful. Some critics say Powers is too cerebral for his own good, but I can't resist his dazzling sentences. Talk to you soon. JDH

Serbia & MontenegroJ.D. Hildebrand


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