Stephen <mca### [at] aoldotcom> wrote:
> Darren New wrote:
> > Stephen wrote:
> >>> HAL wasn't evil.  Just overenthusiastic.
> >> Thus spake Zaraprogrammer :-)
> > 
> > It's explained quite well in the book, really. :)  No more evil than a 
> > general sending soldiers on a mission where he knows they'll die. Not 
> > *good* mind you...
> > 

> Yes, how can a machine be evil?

  Many scifi books explore the idea that machines are not good or evil,
but completely neutral. Their problem is that they are too logical, and
when given contradictory directives, they will try to come up with a solution
which fulfills all of them at the same time. IIRC that was the case with
2001: A Space Odyssey as well as many books by Asimov (and one of the ideas
behind the so-called "zeroth law of robotics" in his books).

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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