hakanson@orstcs.UUCP (07/28/83)
#R:sri-arpa:-340500:orstcs:11600009:000:852
orstcs!hakanson Jul 26 10:49:00 1983
Not to continue in the current direction, but...
First, I agree with most of what lauren says in the base article. However:
Sure, the statement "The only way to win is not to play" doesn't tell you
how to avoid playing the nuclear war game, but it is a nice, elegant, trite
saying, anyway, and it sums up the essential problem very nicely, I believe.
(What do you expect from a movie with an ancient IMSAI in it?)
Besides, WOPR wasn't programmed to avoid nuclear war, it was programmed to
find out how to WIN it. And the above statement is the answer to that
question (sort of). Of course, now that WOPR knows that to win you must
avoid it, it should go on and discover how to avoid nuclear war (if it is
a good little computer).
Perhaps that solution comes in the sequel [:-)] (shades of Colossus).
Marion {hp-pcd, teklabs}!orstcs!hakanson