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| Dr. Forbin has created the ultimate supercomputer, names Colossus, for the U.S. government. Its original goal was to control and administer the United States nuclear arsenal, but when it links up with an identical computer in the Soviet Union, called Guardian, its new goal becomes the complete control of the entire World. Dr. Forbin and the other computer scientists, with the cooperation of the United States and the Soviet Union, race to find a way to defeat their abominable creation through whatever means necessary. |
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| Eric Braeden (Dr. Charles Forbin): creator of Colossus, and head of the resistance against Colossus.
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| Susan Clark (Dr. Cleo Markham): works on Colossus, and later becomes romantically involved with Dr. Forbin.
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| Gordon Pinsent (The President): President of the United States.
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| William Schallert (CIA Director): One of the President's key advisors, helps with the resistance.
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Alex Rodine (Dr. Kuprin): creator of Guardian; the Russian counterpart to Forbin, he is later executed on Colossus%rsquo;s orders.
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| This theme of machines gaining autonomy, resulting in unforeseen and terrible consequences, is an all too familiar one. Colossus was built as the most logical and objective operator of our nuclear arsenal, free from human bias, emotion, and philosophy, only operating on a logical set of strategic rules—in creating Colossus, Dr. Forbin and his team thought that this would maintain peace. As it turns out, that%rsquo;s exactly what Colossus set out to do, though at the expense of human freedom. Colossus tells Forbin that as history has proven, human beings are incapable of maintaining freedom—as Colossus knows nothing of such abstract principles, he is intent on succeeding at what he was built for—maintaining peace.
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| This movie is particularly unique in that it gives us a vision in which humans do not triumph over their rebellious machines. The realism behind this film makes us realize sometimes there are indeed things that can go wrong when we leave things that require human responsibility to machines. It is true that vigilance is the price that we pay for freedom, and this film reminds us that our freedom does not come without its responsibilities. Colossus is yet another example of technology built for the betterment of human kind turning against us, or perhaps an example of perfect technology performing its functions too well. It is not often where one fault’s a machine or even another person for performing their duties too well. This is certainly a lesson worth taking.
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