Collateral Bloggage What passes for thought around here…

Fiction Friday: Colossus

You may be aware that I’m a science fiction fan.  In fact, my current favorite book is a science fiction title (Speaker for the Dead). 

So naturally, I subscribe to SciFi Wire to get all the latest news relating in any way to science fiction.  Well, back in August, SciFi Wire featured an old video of Harlan Ellison (whose work I’ve read and enjoyed and puzzled over) on a panel discussing the difference between science fiction and sci-fi.

Basically it boiled down to science fiction being a literary genre in which issues of technology’s impact on humans is discussed, and sci-fi means movies or books with bugs or aliens.  I’ll embed the video at the end of the post.

Mr. Ellison inspired me to check out an author I’d never heard of, but that will have to be another post (I have the book, but haven’t read it yet).

YouTube has these wonderful “related videos” that are so inviting that I couldn’t help but click one of them, titled The Ten Best Science Fiction Films.  Here’s the list:

1. 2001: The Space Oddyssy
2. Quatermass and the Pit
3. Forbidden Planet
4. Metropolis
5. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
6. Colossus: The Forbin Project
7. The Day the Earth Stood Still
8. A Boy and His Dog
9. Planet of the Apes
10. Silent Running

I’ve only seen a couple of these films.  I actually love Planet of the Apes (even though the book is better), and The Day the Earth Stood Still is rightfully a classic.  2001 is, I believe, the most baffling film I’ve ever seen, and I remain convinced that people pretend to either like or understand it.  I’ve also seen two versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and they were both worth seeing.

For some reason, Colossus: The Forbin Project stood out to me.  Perhaps it was because it starred Eric Braeden, who I enjoyed very much in Escape From the Planet of the Apes.

So when I found out it was based on a novel, I just had to pick it up.  And I’m glad I did.  Because Colossus, by D.F. Jones, is extremely well written and gripping, if a bit dated.

The book starts with Dr. Charles Forbin traveling to the White House to inform the President of the USNA (United States of North America) that Colossus is ready to go online.  Colossus is a computer with complete autonomous control of the nation’s defenses and surveillance equipment.

One of Dr. Forbin’s objects in creating Colossus was to eliminate war by removing the crucial element of human emotion from tactical decisions.  And he succeeds better than he intended.

Forbin is actually reticent about turning Colossus on, but the President won’t hear any objections and gives the order.  Then he gives a press conference, revealing the existence of Colossus and even telling the world where it is.  Because Colossus is so well constructed (into a mountain), there is no fear of sabotage or attack.

Soon after the press conference, Colossus reveals that it has detected another machine of its type, in Russia.  The Russians do not deny the fact, but announce their machine to the world.

And then it gets interesting.  Colossus wants to talk to Guardian (the Russian machine) and demands that communication lines be constructed.  Forbin realizes he has no choice and complies.

The machines begin to establish a common language through derivations of math, far exceeding the knowledge of humans in the process.  Which, of course, frightens the humans.  They cut the communication lines, which prompts a response.  Demanding the lines be restored, both Colossus and Guardian launch missiles.

Of course, the humans comply, but too late to stop the missile headed for Russia.  Two thousand people die.

Forbin, the President, and the leadership of the USSR realize that Colossus and Guardian are now a danger to humanity and set out to disable them.  Of course, they’ve done their job of designing them too well, and their method of fighting back will take years to implement.

Colossus suspects a plot and begins to order executions of key people on both sides.  With the force of nuclear obliteration on his side, Colossus gets his way.  He cages Forbin, demanding 24/7 surveillance of the designer.

Forbin comes to realize that he had wanted to remove human emotion from the equation, and he succeeded.  There is no anger and no fear, but also no empathy or compassion in Colossus.

Colossus is a tale that’s been told over and over, about man reaching too far into technology and trusting his own genius too far.  Comparisons with Skynet from The Terminator are valid, although Colossus never actually decides to exterminate mankind (due to them not being perceived as much of a threat).

I won’t reveal the ending of the book, but I’ll say that I really liked how it ended.  And I particularly enjoyed the discussions of how humans might view a machine intelligence.  Would they fear it?  Hate it?  Love it?  Worship it?

The entire movie is actually viewable on YouTube, and it’s fairly faithful to the book, diverging in a couple of unimportant ways.  And Eric Braeden is perfect as Dr. Forbin.

One thing I found amusing was the science in this science fiction book.  The author rightly predicted that human technology would move from the vacuum tube to the transistor to something else, but he failed to look very far ahead in the realm of communication.  In fact, all communications with Colossus in the book and film were done with teletype.

But I suppose I can hardly fault the author for not predicting the fax and the Internet.  Still, it’s kind of funny to see the mixture of right and wrong predictions.

(I just found out there’s a trilogy of Colossus books, but I’m not sure I’ll pick up any of the rest of the series.  I liked the way it ended in book one.)

At some point I’ll get to reading the other book I picked up because of Mr. Ellison (edit: I’ve just started it).  But I thought I’d include the YouTube here:

And here’s the article referred to in the video.