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"Bureaucracies hide their mistakes, because people's careers are tied to those mistakes. Therefore, bureaucracies are a perfect mechanism for perpetuating mistakes."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| Cutoff Switch | ||
| A means of instantaneously switching off an artificial intelligence. |
Switching the Hal 9000 computer back on is not without peril.
| "What is it?" asked Curnow with mild distaste, hefting the little mechanism in his hand. "A guillotine for mice?"
"Not a bad description - but I'm after bigger game." Floyd pointed to a flashing arrow on the display screen, which was now showing a complicated circuit diagram. "You see this line?" "Yes - the main power supply. So?" "This is the point where it enters Hal's central processing unit. I'd like you to install this gadget here. Inside the cable trunking, where it can't be found without a deliberate search." "I see. A remote control, so you can pull the plug on Hal whenever you want to. Very neat - and a nonconducting blade, too, so there won't be any embarrassing shorts when it's triggered. Who makes toys like this? The CIA?" "Never mind. The control's in my room - that little red calculator I always keep on my desk. Put in nine nines, take the square root, and press INT. That's all..." |
| Technovelgy from 2010: Odyssey Two,
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Not known in 1982 Additional resources -
|
Here is the quote showing the name used in the novel:
Compare to the electromagnetic shotgun from Neuromancer (1984), by William Gibson and the AI control portal from The Mountain in the Sea (2022) by Ray Naylor.
As he floated behind Dr. Chandra in the zero-gravity environment of Discovery's flight deck, Floyd's mind was seldom far from the cutoff switch, installed and tested only a few hours earlier...
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- Google Working On A 'Cutoff Switch' For AI
- Can Artificial Intelligences Be Stopped?
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'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
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'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
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'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
