nessus@nsc.UUCP (10/11/83)
WRT 2001:
On the scene where the Aries moon shuttle is landing on the Moon-
On one of the display screens shown in the cockpit of the ship during landing
an EQUATION, of all things, turns up. My first thought is that the ship could
crash in the time it takes the pilot(s) to solve/verify it. Why not have the
computer go ahead and take care of that while the pilot(s) fly the ship? Some
friends of mine have suggested that "maybe the computer is informing the
pilot(s) of its actions before doing them". My response to this is that the
computer should advise ONLY in the case of a potentially hazardous situation, so
the pilot(s) could perform their primary job, namely flying the ship. UNIX(tm)
doesn't tell me everything it does when it executes my every command; it only
tells me if I have done/am doing something wrong and advises alternates in some
cases.
All in all, I thought 2001 was very good. I like their idea of routine
space travel, as well as a lot of other things in the film. When I saw it last
year, the film had faded and for the first 2/3 of the film everything had a
washed-out reddish tint. Reminded me of some home movies...
Kchula-Rrit
menlo70!nsc!nessustrb@masscomp.UUCP (Andy Tannenbaum) (10/14/83)
nsc!nessus mentions that he found it odd that one of the display screens on the 2001 lunar lander had an equation on it. He claims that it would take too long for the pilot so solve/verify it. I figure that an equation display is the right way to describe the state of a system of constraints, whereas the solution for some value of X might not be the relevant information to be presented by the display. Andy Tannenbaum Masscomp Inc. Littleton MA (617) 486-9581
speaker@umcp-cs.UUCP (10/16/83)
Subject: Re:Re:Tech Flaws[2001] nsc!nessus mentions that he found it odd that one of the display screens on the 2001 lunar lander had an equation on it. He claims that it would take too long for the pilot so solve/verify it. I figure that an equation display is the right way to describe the state of a system of constraints, whereas the solution for some value of X might not be the relevant information to be presented by the display. I tend to agree with nsc!nessus here. I can't see some lunar bus jockey taking in all that information and comprehending it. Why in the world should he anyway? He has a computer to do the work for him! Modern day air (and space) craft don't use such things. They use displays that can be understood at a glance. 2001 used displays that could be unerstood by the AUDIENCE! -- - Speaker speaker@umcp-cs speaker.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay