"Does not compute", and variations of it, are phrases often uttered by computers, robots, and other artificial intelligences in popular culture. The phrase indicates a type of cognitive dissonance on the part of the machine in question. The expression of the phrase "does not compute" by robots or computers attempting to process emotions, contradictions or paradoxes is frequently satirized in popular culture, often leading to the machine's inaction, malfunction or self-destruction. The phrase was used as a catchphrase by the television show My Living Doll in 1964.[1] It was further popularized in Lost in Space (1965) as a catchphrase often uttered by The Robot character.
The problem of how to hold the result of a computation that is not a number is genuine (for example, 1/0) and represented a problem for early computers that would experience divide-by-zero errors or other mathematical paradoxes that software had not yet been written to deal with, leading to a computer crash. The NaN and related data types were invented to solve this problem.
The phrase was often present in stories which carried a theme of the superiority of human emotion over limitations within the logic utilized by machines. Despite the superior ability of computers to calculate and process information, their lack of emotion and randomness made them unable to resolve cognitive dissonance, which often led to the output of "Does not compute". It was usually the computer's response to information which it had received but could not reconcile with other information it already held to be true. It could also be seen as a depiction of the limited (and thus flawed) nature of a machine's programming; due to its pre-programmed nature, it would be unable to adapt itself to circumstances beyond the scope of its programming, as opposed to humans who could adapt to such unforeseen events.
The phrase was used in the sitcom My Living Doll in which the android protagonist, Rhoda Miller, uttered the phrase regularly when confronted with contradictory information, usually in relation to human behavior. On a few occasions when she did understand the information, her response was "that does compute".
Perhaps the most famous use of the phrase is in the television series Lost in Space where the robot often says, "It does not compute!", to which Dr Smith would give a reply of "What do you mean it doesn't compute, you ninny?!" or something to that effect. However, the robot did not shut down or explode; it simply refused to continue working until a more logical command was given.
Such depictions reflect common perceptions of real computers at the time, which usually lacked friendly user interfaces. Computers often responded to bad input with an error message on the same order of utility as "does not compute", although self-destruction was an unlikely result from bad inputs or insoluble problems fed into the computer. The concept of a "killer poke", however, refers to user input intended to induce hardware damage. (See also "Halt and Catch Fire".)
Although not using the phrase "does not compute", the short story "Liar!" (1941) by Isaac Asimov is a striking early example of cognitive dissonance leading to a robot's self-destruction: that whether it lies, tells the truth or says nothing, it will cause humans injury, so being unable to avoid breaking Asimov's First Law of Robotics: "A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." This example is a more sophisticated treatment of cognitive dissonance leading to self-destruction than most examples from later television science fiction. Asimov explored the theme of AI cognitive dissonance at length in his robot stories.
In the Doctor Who story "The Green Death", the Doctor attempts to put the computer BOSS, which claims to be infallible, out of action using the liar paradox. BOSS feigns suffering from confusion as he appears to try to resolve the paradox, but has in fact summoned security.
By the 1990s, with the rise of personal computers and the graphical user interface, the public conception of computers became more friendly and sophisticated, and the image of the computer intelligence unable to respond gracefully to unexpected inputs has gradually faded away from fiction, though the phrase did show up in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace as comic relief in 1999. It re-appeared in the CGI series Star Wars: The Clone Wars in an episode on the planet Ryloth, when a number of Twi'Lek characters attacked a robotic general, much to the robots' fatal surprise.
In popular culture
The Star Trek franchise once again used a variation of the phrase in the 2009 film Star Trek, in which the character James T. Kirk used the phrase to goad Spock (a character known for his propensity for logic) to anger, in order to make the latter realize that he was emotionally compromised.
In the film Alien, Captain Dallas (of the Nostromo) uses 'Mother' – the ship's computer – to evaluate the ship's procedures for dealing with the alien, but receives unfruitful responses in greenish letters: "Unable To Compute" and "Available Data Insufficient". Finally, he types in "WHAT ARE MY CHANCES?" The answer returns: "Does Not Compute."[2]
In a Futurama episode, Leela's attempt to thwart Robot Santa with a paradox was stopped by his "paradox-absorbing crumple zones". In addition, the robot character Bender referred to the phrase as an "old robot saying" in "A Taste of Freedom". In "A Fishful of Dollars", Fry asks for anchovies (extinct in the Futurama universe) which eventually makes a chef-robot repeat, "Does not compute," before exploding.
In the Red Dwarf episode, "The Last Day", the android Hudzen is told by Kryten that silicon heaven does not exist. Hudzen, a believer in the android afterlife, cannot reconcile the contradiction and shuts down. Kryten, also an android, is not harmed by this dissonance, as he believes he is simply lying.
The seventh track from Prince's album 1999 is titled "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)".
A popular web series titled Does Not Compute was created by Michael Swaim.
The Simpsons writers often parody this phrase and its implications. In one episode, Homer said he wanted to make a robot repeat the words "It does not compute" until it exploded by giving it illogical commands. In the episode "Trilogy of Error", Lisa's school project, a grammar-fixing robot, explodes after hearing too much bad grammar from the mobsters led by Fat Tony. The robot repeats the phrase "Bad grammar overload!" as a parody of the original phrase. In "Treehouse of Horror XIX", there is the following dialogue:
Destructicus: That does not compute.
Marge: (sternly) Really?
Destructicus: Well, it computes a little.
In The IT crowd episode "The Dinner Party", the phrase is said by Jessica, one of Jen's friends, to Moss.
In an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, "Warriors of Kudlak: Part 2", the computer Mistress responds to the news of peace with "Peace does not compute", as it was only programmed for war situations.
In Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, one computer developed the ability to pose paradoxes to other computers, causing one computer to go in a corner and sit, pondering "does not compute".
The phrase is also the title of a song sung by the robotic vocalist ALT in the arcade game Pop'n Music 20 Fantasia.
An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids existed only in the domain of science fiction and were frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot technology have allowed the design of functional and realistic humanoid robots.
I, Robot is a fixup collection made up of science fiction short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950 and were then collected into a 1950 publication Gnome Press in 1950, in an initial edition of 5,000 copies.
A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters allow for teleportation by converting a person or object into an energy pattern, then sending ("beaming") it to a target location or else returning it to the transporter, where it is reconverted into matter ("rematerialization").
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov, which were to be followed by robots in several of his stories. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although similar restrictions had been implied in earlier stories.
A gynoid, or fembot, is a feminine humanoid robot. Gynoids appear widely in science fiction film and art. As more realistic humanoid robot design becomes technologically possible, they are also emerging in real-life robot design. Just like any other robot, the main parts of a gynoid include sensors, actuators and a control system. Sensors are responsible for detecting the changes in the environment while the actuators, also called effectors, are motors and other components responsible for the movement and control of the robot. The control system instructs the robot on what to do so as to achieve the desired results.
The uncanny valley effect is a hypothesized psychological and aesthetic relation between an object's degree of resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to the object. Examples of the phenomenon exist among robotics, 3D computer animations and lifelike dolls. The increasing prevalence of digital technologies has propagated discussions and citations of the "valley"; such conversation has enhanced the construct's verisimilitude. The uncanny valley hypothesis predicts that an entity appearing almost human will risk eliciting eerie feelings in viewers.
Kryten is a fictional character in the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf. The name Kryten is a reference to the head butler in the J.M. Barrie play The Admirable Crichton. Originally referred to as a Series III mechanoid, he is later described as a 4000 Series, or Series 4000.
References to Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics have appeared in a wide variety of circumstances. In some cases, other authors have explored the Laws in a serious fashion. Other references, like those made in the satirical newspaper The Onion, are clearly parodic.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to artificial intelligence:
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots. Robotics is related to the sciences of electronics, engineering, mechanics, and software. The word "robot" was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R., published in 1920. The term "robotics" was coined by Isaac Asimov in his 1941 science fiction short-story "Liar!"
"The Last Day" is the sixth, and last, episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series III, and the eighteenth in the series run. It premiered on the British television channel BBC2 on 19 December 1989. Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye, the story is about Kryten's expiry date and how Lister decides to give him a last day to remember. The episode was re-mastered, along with the rest of the first three series, in 1998.
"Tikka To Ride" is the first episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series VII and the 37th in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 17 January 1997. Written by Doug Naylor and directed by Ed Bye, it was the first episode not to involve co-creator and writer Rob Grant.
Robot ethics, sometimes known as "roboethics", concerns ethical problems that occur with robots, such as whether robots pose a threat to humans in the long or short run, whether some uses of robots are problematic, and how robots should be designed such that they act 'ethically'. Alternatively, roboethics refers specifically to the ethics of human behavior towards robots, as robots become increasingly advanced. Robot ethics is a sub-field of ethics of technology, specifically information technology, and it has close links to legal as well as socio-economic concerns. Researchers from diverse areas are beginning to tackle ethical questions about creating robotic technology and implementing it in societies, in a way that will still ensure the safety of the human race.
Artificial intelligence is a recurrent theme in science fiction, whether utopian, emphasising the potential benefits, or dystopian, emphasising the dangers.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to robotics:
AI takeover—the idea that some kind of artificial intelligence may supplant humankind as the dominant intelligent species on the planet—is a common theme in science fiction. Famous cultural touchstones include Terminator and The Matrix.
References
↑ Does not compute (Jesse Sheidlower, American Dialect Society mailing list, 2001-09-15) – cites The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang
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