Man Versus Machine

I suppose 'The General' is a parable of  "Man Versus Machine."

   Some fans of 'the Prisoner' over the years have spent time trying to put an answer to WHY? Or how perhaps the General might have responded, "Why not?" being one, or perhaps not to respond at all. But for me the answer was much simpler, the General simply wasn't programmed with the basic facts! Mind you that should not have caused the computer to self-destruct. That I should'nt wonder is simply for a visual effect.
  And then there is the Tele-Printer in a room in the Town Hall in 'Dance of the Dead.'

   Number 6, upon the discovery of the Tele-Printer, busies himself in sabotaging the machine by tearing out it's wiring and printing paper. But yet a few moments later, to the laughter of Number 2, the Tele-Printer whirrs back into life, and carries on printing!
   It would seem that machines in the Village have an operative will of their own. Especially when it comes to appraising their own efficiencies, simply by not returning the requested information. As Number 2 once said "They'll want their own Trade Union next!"

Be seeing you