My son, here designated P-Diddy, has a second shift job and I do much of my work during the day at home. That's especially true on days like this one, when I had to hang around all morning to wait for a plumber.
Today, I walked through the family room to find P-D watching the Will Smith movie, I, Robot. After about five seconds of watching it, I said, "It's just like Tron."
In that 1982 Disney film, a CPU develops a will independent from programmers and users. It arrogates to itself enormous power, way beyond the bounds its creators established. It's only when the hero, played by Jeff Bridges, flings himself into the monster's core and falls for what seems like miles in order to implant micro-data into the heart of the tall and swirling CPU that the horrors are reversed.
In I, Robot, which my son says is a not-very-faithful adaptation of another property, Smith dives into the heart of a swirling robot control mechanism, impanting data that reverses the enslavement of the robots and their threat to the human race.
Now, I know that there's nothing new under the sun. But you'd think that Hollywood could work a bit harder to do something different. Or is this just one of those coincidences? In "play-it-safe-let's-recycle-Gilligan's Island" Hollywood? I don't think so.
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