byron@pyr.gatech.EDU (Byron A Jeff) (01/14/89)
First there were the Egyptians, then the Chinese, then the Greeks and those pushy Romans. Now, it's time for the mythology of the COMPUTER! I am looking for stories. Heard any tales second- or third-hand that sound possibly true but that "happened to a friend of a friend" in different places at different times? Good God, man or woman, that's a computer myth! I'm also interested in stories that might have started in actual fact but that have become so popular that they keep popping up. For instance, did you hear about the zero-sum check? Someone gets a computerized bill from a credit card company saying they owe the company zero dollars and zero cents. They ignore it but keep getting bills and increasingly nasty computerized notes, so they finally write out a check for zero dollars and zero cents and send it in, and the computer never bothers them again. Or, there's the story about the guy who falls asleep in front of his terminal with an ELIZA program running and his boss logs on and thinks he's talking to him but is actually talking to the program, and gets pissed off. OR, there's the dilemma in which computers keep crashing because an operator wears a silk slip that gives off static electricity like nobody's business, OR the bank teller who embezzles millions from his bank by creating a file to collect the fractions of pennies that the bank rounds off from accounts. Some story categories are: 1. machines going physically berserk. 2. women/computers/sex/sexism and/or romance. 3. sabotage. 4. breaking security (no, I don't have classified clearance, goddammit!) 5. great hacks. 6. computer gods (such as Norbert Weiner, a genius in AI who lost his family when they moved to a new house and he forgot where it was). 7. tales of massive catastrophe due to seemingly mysterious means that turn out to be something strange, like magnetized pollen. Of course, there are more categories. Got a great tale you want to share? Reply to isusevm@pyr.gatech.edu. If you'd rather talk, leave your phone number and I'll try to give you a ring. Karla Jennings c/o BAJ -- Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of... Byron A. Jeff Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332 Internet: byron@pyr.gatech.edu uucp: ...!gatech!pyr!byron